S-duality
by SlaiteIsCheers
Summary: Where Naruto and Sasuke grew up an a world drastically different but disturbingly the same and still managed to become their stubborn, cumbersome selves. Naruto thought that going to college was going to be challenge enough, but throw a broody yet oddly peace-seeking Uchiha on top of that? Well, it was bound to get physical. With fists. Punching. Obviously, that's what he meant!
1. Prolog

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Naruto_** **and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and purely for entertainment.**...Enjoy!

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 _Prolog: Reminiscence  
_

They had all started here.

Konoha was the capital of the Fire Country, and also housed the largest military complex known to the region. Every single one of them had started there as either a product of Konoha City or Konoha Base.

Naruto Uzumaki was a military brat. Konoha was the city that he had grown up in his whole life, though. He was told that his father, Minato Namikaze, met his mother in a town call Uzushigakure whilst he was deployed. Kushina Uzumaki was a beautiful woman. Long, flowing red locks of hair and expressive green eyes with a fiery independence to boot. It had been a beautiful love story about boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy marries girl, boy brings girl home.

The only issue is that Naruto had been premature, leading the lovely individuals who helped deliver the blonde haired boy - who oh-so looked like his father - to place Uzumaki as his surname, under the claim that conception was likely before the time of marriage. This was just how the system worked in Konoha hospitals and, as such, that's how it stayed. Minato had been more than frustrated, but unfortunately he didn't have much of a chance to argue; he had been deployed the next week since he was one of the military's top performers. By the time that Naruto was one year old, Kushina had become sick with a terminal illness back on the base. When word reached Minato, he immediately made a request to come home and, on his way, got caught in a cross fire.  
Neither made it past the week.

Unfortunately, that was all information that Naruto never learned until the later years of his adolescence. He had grown up entirely believing that he had just been a regular orphan, not even knowing that he was passing his own father's statue for bravery in battle outside of the justice building, and had been brought up in the orphanage on base. Konoha had two schooling systems. One on base, that if parents paid enough money their kids could attend even if they didn't reside on base, and another in the city. It's not that the schooling in the city was bad, it was just that the schooling on base was better. It was something that Iruka, Naruto's kind grade school teacher from his younger years, told him that he should be happy about; at least he was enrolled in the most elite schooling system that Fire Country had to offer.

At the time, Naruto hadn't cared much. He spent his days thinking up schemes and pranking both his classmates and teachers; in retrospect, these actions were a clear cry for attention that he so clearly craved and severely lacked. The blonde couldn't say that he really started to care about schooling until Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke Uchiha was a product of the Uchiha Clan, a proud linage of Konoha military who went on to play a large part in the Military Police Force of Konoha. In fact, the Military Police Force was largely run by members of their clan, and Fugaku and Mikoto, Sasuke's parents, were an integral head to the organization. His brother, Itachi Uchiha, was seen as a prodigy and was head of his class every year; it was a shadow that Sasuke lived in, and constantly tried to overcome. When Sasuke was ten, there was a long-lived conspiracy that was brought a head and the Uchihas were brought in for questioning. In the end, it turned out that Itachi had been keeping tabs on odd behavior that his father had exhibited and reported what he had found to the government officials of Konoha: Fugaku and the rest of the clan had been planning treason against Konoha on the basis that there had been underground tension between the clan and the capital, and that Madara, the head of both the clan and the police force, had wanted to level the capital and create a new system. It had been chaos. There were mass executions - because that's how they still did things here - and Sasuke's parents had been some of the first to go. In the end, Sasuke was obviously not seen as a threat and was pardoned along with his brother who assumed responsibility over him for a time, even at his young age. It was at this point in their lives that Naruto and Sasuke's fates seemed to converge.

Sasuke had shut out the world, having previously been the most popular boy in class, and Naruto slowly watched as the boy deteriorated - although this happened to be more socially than academically. It seemed like that was what Sasuke threw all his effort into - academics - maybe in an attempt to escape from the reality of it all, though this was, again, something that Naruto didn't fully contemplate until he was older. Two years after the Uchiha Incident, Itachi, in his guilt over his family, joined a missionary group called the Akatsuki after attaining his GED at sixteen and left to a different part of the world; although, in doing this, he left a now twelve year old Sasuke to fend for himself. Of course, Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, two of the girls from the city whose parents paid for their education privileges, had immediately offered that Sasuke could stay with them. This had met a quick decline. Instead, Sasuke was taken in by Kakashi Hatake, one of the local ex-military grade school teachers on base, whom had a close friend that had passed while they were deployed in his early days in the military. His name was Obito Uchiha.

At the age of twelve, all of them were beginning junior high school, and while that was a tough time for most, it seemed excruciatingly painful for them. The way that the school was set up was that every student would go through their classes like normal, but they would be assigned two partners which they would commune with for any and every project that they were assigned. Naruto happened to get paired with Sakura and Sasuke. Their progress was actually overseen by Kakashi Hatake, yet he only acted as a moderator when needed.

And it was needed.

Naruto and Sasuke would fight about anything and everything, often leading to physical engagements. One day Naruto would come home sporting a black eye, and the next Sasuke would have a nasty bruise on his cheek. It was at this point that Kakashi told them that rather than just participate in martial arts in gym class, something that was required of all students on base, that they should get involved competitively. And they did. Sasuke excelled at it, as he did with most things, and it pissed Naruto off enough that he actually tried to beat the bastard. For the next two years, he and Sasuke formed an odd bond of friendship through their fights and competitiveness, and on the rare occasion Sasuke had even stood up for Naruto in some physical altercations. One night had actually landed him in the hospital; Naruto had made sure that the guy who did it was even worse off, though. It wasn't exactly common for assaults to happen in Konoha, but when you were in the wrong part of the city and you were considered orphanage rif-raf like Naruto, it wasn't uncommon. And anyway, teenagers were just assholes.

Their group, team seven as it had been dubbed by the school, made it through junior high and even managed to become friendly, having spent so much time going to various places to work on projects throughout the years, and Naruto was so, so happy. Sasuke was the first person he truly felt like he had a bond with, the first person that made him feel like he had some worth, and even if the guy could be a bastard sometimes he knew that they were the best friends that each other had. Sakura, of course, had clung to Sasuke - the cutest guy in school, apparently - at the beginning, but she slowly warmed up to Naruto, having even stuck up for him when some jeering comments were made his way about his position in society. It was something that he was greatly thankful for, and the crush he had on her when they were kids slowly started to fade into something more akin to friendship. They had fallen into a comfortable camaraderie, and, for once, Naruto was content.

Until high school.

It was on the first day that he learned that Sasuke had left Konoha, and he was crestfallen. Sakura told him that she had only found out a day prior when she had run into Kakashi and he told her that Sasuke had gone to chase his brother. Not in the literal sense, but rather Sasuke transferred to a school in the country that his brother was currently in, actually living with him again now that Itachi was eighteen and Sound Country had laws that you could not be a legal guardian until that age. Naruto was hurt that the boy that he claimed was his best friend hadn't even told him that he was leaving, and wondered if he would ever see him again. That was when Sakura reminded him about martial arts. If they both still pursued that, then they would see each other at the country finals each year.

So Naruto trained. He trained and kept his grades high to stay in the program and Sakura became an assistant team manager for Konohagakure High competitive martial arts so that she could cheer him on, herself having grown fond of the idiot and selfishly wanting to see Sasuke as well. It was during these excursions that Sakura met Lee, an upperclassman at Konoha who was extremely enthusiastic and unfortunately infatuated with her, and his friends and teammates Tenten and Neji. Neji was the older cousin of a girl in their grade, Hinata Hyuuga. She was... extremely quiet. And always staring at Naruto.  
The first year that Naruto saw Sasuke he had be ecstatic... until Sasuke had knocked him out without a word. The second year, their fight lasted longer, and Naruto was able to get in a few comments edgewise about how mad he was that Sasuke left without a word and, seemingly, with no remorse. The third year Sasuke won, yet again, but this time Naruto didn't grace the bastard with words, rather letting his silence do the talking. Their senior year, Naruto finally won the match, and while he hovered over the raven haired prodigy he simply asked him to come home.

Luckily, Konoha worked in his favor. It housed the one of the most prestigious universities in all the great nations. Yet that still didn't change the fact that the first time that Naruto saw Sasuke walking across campus, he was floored.


	2. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Naruto_** **and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and purely for entertainment.**...Enjoy!

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 _Chapter One: no one can be caught in places he does not visit...unless..._

Sakura sat at her desk, marking the boxes on her mental checklist as she leafed through the items in her backpack. It was on her fifth time doing this that an annoyed groan behind her made her anxious green eyes flicker over to her roommate, who was leaning heavily against her own desk with a board expression and furled lip.

"God, will you stop, that's so aggravating," Ino sighed and pushed herself off her desk, past Sakura, and zipped up the offensive backpack, "You have everything. You're fine," the blonde stated, turning determinedly towards her longtime friend and shoving the pack in her arms. Sakura opened her mouth to yell at her companion, but all that came out was a squeak. She was nervous. And, rightfully so! This was her first day of college classes, and that was daunting! Ino smirked at the shorter girl and scoffed, flipping her hair in an iconic fashion as she turned away and traveled back across the short expanse of their dorm room to grab her own bag.

They had spent all of yesterday trying to decorate the room in a way that they would both be happy with - this had involved months of previous pinterest work being scrapped and a free-for-all at the big-box store down the road - and it ended with only the sparse gear they had originally arrived with, with the exception of a nice, plush flokati rug that both of them had fallen in love with on sight. That being said, the only other decor in the room consisted of Sakura's red bedspread and white pillows contrasting with Ino's purple bedspread and grey pillows. When they had stepped back and looked at the garish combination, along with the fact that they hadn't even managed to get curtains yet - they quickly determined that they would fix the conundrum of their room in the next week. By the time that this had been agreed upon, both girls were already exhausted and were surprised at how easy it had been to fall asleep; though, they had already been used to sleepovers together since they were kids, so maybe it shouldn't have been that shocking. Sakura had woken up blearily to the sound of her phone alarm sounding off by her head and turned it off in a confused daze before realizing that it was, indeed, the first day of classes and that she was in college. The moment the thought struck her she sat up straight in bed, back rigid, and sucked in a deep, calming breath. Sakura had let it out disparagingly, then chucked her pillow roughly at a snoozing Ino, who complained loudly, and hopped out of bed, grabbing first shower in their jack-n-jill. She still had no idea who was on the other side of the opposite door in the bathroom; they were yet to show themselves.

All of that had led to now, her and Ino getting ready to walk out their dorm door and head to their first class. Just as they reached the indiscrimanant wooden egress, Sakura began to turn and claim that she forgot her highlighters but Ino yanked her on the arm, roughly, and proceeded to force them out the door and through the freshman hall. It was early in the morning, and it seemed like most of the freshman were still sleeping, only a few brave souls having chosen to take the seven am classes. Ino and Sakura, unaware that it was uncommon, were used to waking up by six for their school on the base anyway, so they figured that it wouldn't be a huge issue. Even so, they were in a new environment, and a little overwhelmed, so even if they saw any faces they recognized they were too focused on where they might be headed once they left their dorm to realize.

Outside it was an overcast day, the mist still rising in the early morning light and dew sticking to the grassy blades that surrounded their building in patches. Their dorm was on the far side of campus, where all the freshman dorms were - meaning it was the oldest, and most run down - and stood four stories tall. The building was called: Genjutsu Hall. Their room happened to be on the third floor, looking out into the commons between theirs and all the other freshman dorms. Which happened to be where they stood now. Sakura adjusted the backpack on her shoulder and cast a glance at her friend. Ino was rubbing her eyes, trying to acclimate to the morning still.

"Coffee?" Sakura asked hopefully, knowing that Ino would agree gratefully, anyway. As predicted, the blonde haired girl nodded, ponytail bobbing behind her, and Sakura whipped out her campus map - _always prepared!_ \- and they slowly trudged past any other students that had been milling in the courtyard and made their way onto the main campus. It was a menagerie of stone and woodworking, all combined in a beautifully intricate architecture. Their destination stood to the left of the building that their first class was in. There was a small, pop-up coffee kiosk set up, huddled in a corner snuggly between two large oak trees. _Well_ , Sakura amended internally, _it's a coffee and ramen bar._ She guessed it was successful because poor college kids always needed coffee to study, and cheap food to eat. The best thing was that it was twenty-four hours.

"Ichiraku's?" Ino spoke the title hesitantly, her nose scrunched up in a twist. Sakura snorted, knowing that Ino had been spoiled with her artisan coffees in the past, and tugged the girl's arm along with her to the stand.

"Hello, my name is Ayame!" the girl behind the register said pleasantly and nodded to them as they approached, "What would you guys like? Our ramen menu is on the left and coffee menu is on the right!" she gestured in a practiced motion to the boards and gazed at them, smiling. Sakura flicked her eyes to the ramen menu briefly, thinking of how gross it would be for breakfast, then jerked her eyes to the coffee bar and found something called a toffeenut latte, deciding that it sounded good. She opened her mouth to order, but Ino butted in and ordered some complicated concoction with a self-congratulatory flip of her hair and a smirk. Sakura rolled her eyes with a scoff and then politely gave the brown haired girl, Ayame, her own order. It only took a few minutes while Sakura and Ino gazed around the hazy campus, distantly taking note of the other students who scurried, or dragged their feet, about. When Ayame chirped that their orders were ready, both of the girls turned and grabbed at the hot beverages, offering a thank you, and making to turn around again until-

"Sakuraaa~!" a chipper voice rang out and the targeted individual cringed at the energy that she'd have to deal with along with it. And, really, she didn't understand. The boy was a log in the morning, and somehow, within the hour, he became this bundle of electrified glory. She turned and gave Naruto a smile just before he attached himself to her in a tight hug and Ino place her free hand on her hip beside them, watching Sakura's coffee cup as it jerked precariously under the force of the collision.

"G'morning, Naruto," Sakura spoke, trying not to get her tongue caught on any of his stray blonde hairs as he snuggled into her neck - his hair was a bit unruly now, "Settled in?" she asked courteously when he finally relinquished his grip and pulled away.

"Yeah, well, kind of," a discontented look befuddled his features, then he glanced to the side and shortly waved at Ino, "hey Ino!" then focused back on Sakura as the blonde girl gave a noncommittal noise and sipped on her fresh brew, "So, I was put into this forced triple cuz apparently there are these bullshit repairs going on and some student growth shit," Sakura made a sound of sympathy that she knew Naruto wanted to hear and endured the rant she had brought upon herself, of course, "and guess who my roomies are? Guess. No?" Not that he gave her time to anyway, Sakura rolled her eyes and took a sip of her own coffee, "Kiba and weirdass bug-dude-"

"Shino," Sakura provided on impulse, but Naruto didn't stop to acknowledge.

"So, Kiba is fine and all, obviously, but bugass?" Ino snorted at Naruto's combined term, but tried to hide it by forcing the coffee up to her lips again, "I mean, come on! I know he's gunna be some Bio major and there's gunna be bugs crawling all over my room. Crawling. In my room," Naruto grabbed Sakura's shoulders roughly and she had to force down the sip that she had just taken so that she didn't accidentally spit it in his face. The blonde boy looked at her with wide, terrorized blue eyes and a stricken expression, "Sakura, if I find bugs in my bed... I was planning on sharing my bed with some ladies in college, but not with _bugs_!" Sakura made a face at his last comment and shrugged his hands off her shoulders.

"Ugh, Naruto, I don't want to think about you having sex," he grinned at her and sheepishly scratched at the back of his neck and she sighed, "look, I'm sure it's only temporary and then... and then stuff will work out," Sakura looked over his shoulder to where Ino had already decided she was going to head towards class without a goodbye, "hey, I have class so-"

"Oh, what class?" Naruto asked, pulling at the strap of his own backpack to show that he was on his way to his am class as well. Sakura decided that she was proud that he was up this early, actually, and smiled, angling her head to the building off to the side of them.

"It's psych one-oh-one," she explained and he raised a brow, "as one of my general electives for humanities," he nodded and smirked a little, seeming to reflect on something internally.

"I don't think I'll take psych for mine," Naruto admitted, snorting at the thought, "seems like too much... thinking," Sakura deadpanned and rolled her eyes, punching his shoulder lightly.

"You _are_ in college, Naruto," he waved off her condescending statement and she chuckled at him; it was almost endearing... almost, "anyway," her eyes wandered back to where Ino was now stepping into the building, _that bitch_ , "I really do need to go, class and all - look, ramen!" was her parting statement, pointing him towards the Ichiraku stand and rushing off to catch up with her roommate. As she entered the building she smiled to herself as she thought of the not-as-hyperactive blonde.

When they were kids, she had wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. Everyone knew that he was from the orphanage, so he never had nice clothes and he was always a little rougher around the edges. In retrospect, all the kids probably should have been nicer to him, but instead it's like Naruto had a stigma attached to him, like some sort of pariah. But, now, in the years that they had all grown up, Naruto was generally well-liked (or at least well-tolerated) in the odd sort of friend group that had melded in Konohagakure High on base. He and herself became fairly close friends after Sasuke left; she had seen first hand the shambles that the whole situation had put Naruto in. Sasuke truly was his closest friend back then and, truth be told, she really was under the impression that Naruto was the closest friend that Sasuke had as well. It's like those two _needed_ each other. She, of course, being a hormonal pre-pubescent girl, had thought that it was the end of the world when he long time crush had left and blamed Naruto for a month, claiming that he must've had something to do with it. That was a time that she had come to regret deeply because, other than Sasuke, Sakura was one of the only other connections that Naruto had really made in his young life. Yet, they persevered and Naruto claimed that he would convince Sasuke to come home for her when he saw him at the martial arts tournament that she had convinced him to join league in. She got herself a spot on the sidelines as an assistant to watch him follow up... but it was in the first fight that they actually saw Sasuke again, at the end of their freshman year, when everything shifted. When Sasuke stepped out in the open, he didn't even look at Naruto until their match began. The tension in the room was palpable - she couldn't imagine what people who didn't know them must have been thinking - and then it was just a brutal mess. Naruto was fighting with emotions, but Sasuke was always more controlled than he was, at least, until he cracked in the middle of the fight. It may not have been obvious to the average observer, but to Sakura, she could see the difference. Both of the boys were in pain, emotional pain, from some sort of baggage she wasn't privy to, and they were unleashing it by way of fist and kicks. Her dazzled green eyes had watched intently as the two boys she cared most about in life - for lack of better terminology - kicked the living shit out of each other until, finally, Sasuke got Naruto on the ground and loomed over him, staring blankly and not saying a word. Naruto had glared up at his best friend, then spit on his face with a growl as the match was called.

The referee didn't notice.

Sasuke stood and left. And that was it. They didn't see him again until the following year. That was when Sakura decided that she was going for Naruto, her friend, and tried to squash her hopes of having Sasuke around. Especially because she wasn't sure that she recognized the boy that she saw annually; and each year he seemed to carry a darker presence. It seemed that only Naruto still harbored an undying hope that his lost bond would return, and she was close enough at the end of last year - when Naruto finally won, thank god! - to hear Naruto's soft plea for Sasuke to come home. That had been an especially odd fight. It was like they knew each others movements like the back of their hands at that point, almost dancing around the stage in a fluid motion, and it had lasted for so, so long. When they finally came at each other with the last of their energy, Naruto managed to overpower Sasuke and bring him to the floor, on his haunches above him and leaning over. It was like the whole room, even the audience, had stilled in surprise at the realization that the Uchiha had lost in his undefeated record and then Sakura had seen as a small smile ebbed on the raven's face shortly before he erupted into a short laughter and stared up at Naruto. In the ref's silence, Sasuke claimed his loss quietly and Naruto blinked down at the boy below him, his lips moving imperceptibly and his voice soft, but Sakura heard it. Just a simple request to come home. And that was it. Naruto stood up and the match was over. And Sasuke was gone, leaving them to never know if they would see him again.

Sakura felt for Naruto. Sasuke was the brother that he never had, and he was so torn up when he lost that; it was a spot that Sakura, herself, couldn't fill. Even Kiba, whom had become pretty good friends with the boisterous fool, wasn't the right fit. Sakura finally caught up to Ino. She was leaning against the doorframe of their classroom with an annoyed expression, urging Sakura to hurry up and the pink haired girl smiled sadly. _I don't know what I would do without my best friend_ , she admit to herself, and thought that maybe she would be as torn apart as Naruto if Ino had done the same thing to her. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that Naruto and Sasuke were just... _that_. Naruto and Sasuke. Unique in every way.

Sakura and Ino filed into the classroom and posted up in the middle, that seemed safe enough, and settled into their seats. When a sharp elbow prodded Sakura in the gut she growled at he best friend - maybe it was time to reconsider that - and looked up, only to see her pointing animatedly to the front of the room.

"Hey, isn't that...?" Ino trailed as Sakura's gaze drifted to the name on the board.

"Kakashi Hatake!?" Sakura hissed through her teeth and a few students around them looked at her warily before Ino shushed her, "Oh, no," she groaned and put her head in her hands and Ino gave her and incredulous look.

"What's wrong with you, forehead?" Ino was beginning to pull out her notebook but Sakura shot out her hand and prevented her from doing so, her other hand being pulled roughly through her hair.

"You're not going to need that for another hour," Sakura sneered to herself and huffed, "We're running on Kakashi time," Ino furrowed her brows and tentatively shoved her notebook back, them proceeded to fold her arms and quirk one brow.

"What does that mean? And isn't he supposed to be monitoring some grade schoolers back on base?"

"It means that he's always," Sakura sighed, accepting her fate, "always late. And I really don't know about the other thing; I had no clue he was teaching university classes..." she admit and Ino let her curious eyes rove over the classroom.

"So, any student insight on how to get a good grade?" the blonde whispered and Sakura snorted, gripping her coffee harder than she meant to.

"You know as well as I do that he didn't grade us. He was just there to make sure that the boys didn't destroy anything," Sakura smiled and fond, despairing smile, then shook her head, "He's either going to be lazy enough to give everyone As, or he's going to make us work hard as hell for it," she determined and Ino made a noise of distaste beside her before deciding to take out her phone and distract herself on it for the next hour. Contemplating the notion, it actually didn't seem like a bad idea.

 _Sakura-to-Naruto: Did you know that Kakashi was a Prof. here?_

Sakura only had to wait a few moments before she saw the indicative dots that showed he was responding to her. Heck, he was probably at the ramen stand still.

 _Naruto-to-Sakura: WHAT!? No way! No, what's he teaching?_

 _Sakura-to-Naruto: My psych 101 class._

 _Naruto-to-Sakura: Oh god, I'm so sorry..._

Sakura stifled a loud laugh that bubbled from her mouth at his response and Ino gave her a look, to which Sakura rolled her eyes, and quickly went back to responding.

 _Sakura-to-Naruto: It's going to be really weird... Should I talk to him at the end of class?_

 _Naruto-to-Sakura: Nooo, u should set up a boobytrap for him - like old times!_

Sakura recalled when they first met Kakashi Naruto had tried to set up some elaborate trap and got them all in trouble. She rolled her eyes.

 _Sakura-to-Naruto: That was you, Naruto. Not me._

 _Naruto-to-Sakura: Ur no fun! :(_

 _Sakura-to-Naruto: Idiot, really, what should I do?_

 _Naruto-to-Sakura: Yeah, Kakashi's a good guy, say hello. And why are u asking me, anyway? Since when have u EVER been shy?_

Sakura scoffed. It was so very Naruto to have a moment of maturity, then cap it off with something stupid. Though, she had to agree. She didn't know why she was so on edge today, it was like she could tell the world was off kilter or something.

 _Sakura-to-Naruto: OK, you're right._

As soon as she sent the message she heard some shuffling and watched a more grown version of the man from her grade school days step through the door with a brief case in hand. He had on a medical mask - she was aware he was a germaphobe - and a black turtleneck with some slacks. _He actually looks kinda sharp_ , and she blushed at the thought, telling herself it was incorporate to think that. Kakashi settled in at the front of the room and Ino finally took out that notebook that she had been fishing for earlier. Sakura's grip on her coffee cup continued to tighten until she noticed the cardboard crinkling around her fingers and she carefully dislodged her fingers and dug out her out note taking materials. Kakashi looked bored behind his desk, one hand ruffling through his silvery hair once as he pulled out a flashdrive, and he plugged in a usb while turning on the projector. Finally he looked up and scanned the class, trying to access how many would be there by the end of the week, and his eyes fell on two familiar faces. Without any tact what-so-ever, Kakashi raised his right hand and his facial muscles morphed into a smile.

"Yo!" he called out to Sakura and Ino. The whole class turned to them, and Ino blinked, off guard, while Sakura hung her head with a groan. This man... She managed a weak wave back as she sunk lower in her seat. If this was outside of the classroom she would have berated him, but in here... well...

The class ended up being a fairly short overview of the syllabus which Kakashi outlined quickly on the projector. He only added another few brief comments about how to be successful in the class, one had to be invested in school, but more importantly invested in people. After this he dismissed the students and Ino and Sakura stood. Sakura told Ino to go on ahead since she was going to catch up with Kakashi, to which she received an odd look to, then made her way down to the front of the classroom where Kakashi was shoving a usb drive back in his brief case.

"Kakashi," she greeted and he looked up, the skin under his eye betraying a smile.

"Sakura, how have you been?" he asked as he straightened up, folding his arms and tilting his head to gaze down at her. Yet another reminder that she was short.

"I've been... good," she answered a little awkwardly. What do you say when the last conversation you had with someone you were in tears because they told you that your crush skipped town? Sakura cleared her throat, "So, you're a professor now," she commented, gesturing to him and he chuckled.

"Yes, and you're a university student now," the crinkles under his eyes grew, "funny how time changes circumstances," _right, I forgot that he could be a prick sometimes..._ Sakura narrowed her eyes for a second before taking a deep breath through her nose to calm herself.

"It's been a while," she commented unnecessarily and he made a sound of agreement, "how'd you end up here?" and it was that question that made the crinkles under his eyes lessen.

"Ah, now that's an interesting question, Sakura," he told her and a silence followed, but she stared resolutely at him, standing her ground and letting him know that she wasn't going anywhere until he wasn't so elusive - she had the next hour and a half blotted out for his class anyway. He gave a resigned sigh, "You always were a stubborn one - all of you, actually," Kakashi leaned his back against the board and tapped one of his fingers on his arms, "Well, a lot of things led me to pursue this, and nothing-"

"Don't start your crap with me!" Sakura jeered with a huff, ready to turn around, "I was trying to be kind and come up but-"

"Okay, okay," Kakashi put up his hands in surrender and chuckled, "I should know better than to feed you stories by now, you always were too smart," Sakura felt her cheeks heat at the comment, but she stubbornly kept her glare on him. Her nerves were at their limits this morning, "So, really, there were a lot of things in my life that led me here, but what truly led me to pursue my PhD was probably Sasuke leaving," and that was quite the admission. Sakura felt her eyes widen and she sucked in a breath, "It was quite the hit, really. When I found out that he had run away to the airport that morning I was too late and I struggled to think about things that I had done wrong, or things that I could have done better. Ultimately, it brought me to think about Sasuke and his whole situation, along with his brother, Obito, and everything else. I had seen a lot of people go through a lot of terrible things in my time both in and out of the military, and I just became interested in... learning I guess," Sakura watched him as he seemed to reminisce in his own mind about something as she slowly encoded all the information, "learning came first, helping came second, caring was something that I accepted I did all along. My Undergraduate degree was in Tactical Analysis, so something entirely different than this, obviously," Sakura couldn't help but feel the name had a deadly ring to it, "But getting my PhD in Psychology just felt... right at this point in my life. To really understand the inner workings of the mind and imitate human cognition through study; I guess it's just my calling," He smiled down at her again and she couldn't help but frown back at him. There was a missing piece somewhere in there, "How's Naruto?" Kakashi asked suddenly and Sakura blinked at him.

"Oh, he's... ya know, Naruto, he's fine. Finished High school and is actually here at University, too. He's, um, still pretty annoying, but he's calmed down a lot," she explained a little rushed under Kakashi's penetrating stare and she cleared her throat again at the end.

"I see... I'm sure all you kids are different than who I remember you as," he admit and smiled to himself, "I'm glad to hear it sounds like you're still in contact with him."

"What...?" Sakura was actually a little surprised to hear that he had an inkling to think that she might not be, _was I that mean to him?_ "Of course, we're actually pretty good friends now," she told him, feeling as if she had to prove herself and his skin crinkled further on his face and he leaned off the board.

"Ah, but nothing more; he had a crush on you, if I remember right," he didn't give her time to answer, "Well, I'm glad to hear he at least has one close friend now," Sakura couldn't help but be a little offended. Did Kakashi really think that Naruto was that hopeless?

"Actually," she started a little venomously, "Naruto has made a good few friends with most of our graduating class and more. He's plenty capable," Kakashi simply stared at her and slowly she began to feel like she should be shrinking under his gaze. Why did she just feel like she lost a game she didn't know she was playing?

"There was a time you would have said the exact opposite," he smiled at her under his mask again and she felt played, "It's really nice to see how much you've grown up," and there was the blush again. Sakura tried to will it down, "Naruto... he had a really hard time as a kid. Of course, I didn't really know him until Sasuke lived with me, but when he would stay over because the orphanage was rough..." Kakashi trailed, feeling like he didn't need to finish his sentence. Sakura stared at him blankly for a moment.

"When he..." words became jumbled on her tongue with the information she never knew, in all those years, and slowly pieces began to fit together, "when he would stay over...?" she asked breathily.

"Yeah, it was... fairly common, actually," Kakashi chuckled lightly at a memory while Sakura gazed dazedly at him, "I don't even think they thought I knew. Sasuke would sneak them through the window, but I could hear them arguing the whole time. I don't know what they would do, galavanting around the city like little hooligans, but I can tell you one thing: not every time they were broken and bloody was it a product of each other. Well, not technically. Sasuke ended up in the hospital one night and Naruto spilt the beans on how it was some older kid who was trying to do some real damage to him, for some reason, and Sasuke stuck up for him. Got himself beaten to a pulp, really. Apparently Naruto went into some crazy rage afterwards and nearly skinned the other kid alive - should probably get some anger issues checked out now that I think about it, actually," Kakashi put a finger on his chin in thought. Sakura continued to stare at him in silence. This was all information that she had never known. The only interaction that she had known about was what she saw between them on the outtings that they had and she had just assumed... _I had just assumed_... she had no idea that their friendship had run deeper - hell they _protected_ each other - and something in her clenched and she felt like she wanted to cry all over for the loss that she truly hadn't realized Naruto had. Naruto _really had_ lost his best friend... not just what the equivalent was in his situation. She felt like a fool. And Naruto never once talked about it.

Sakura was overwhelmed.

"It, uh, it was great catching up Kakashi, I need to g-"

"He's back, you know," he cut her off and looked at her blank-point and her heart stopped. _He couldn't mean_... "he came here from Sound Country for University."

"I need to go," she rushed out of the room as fast as her feet could carry her.

* * *

 _Author's Note: So, I have to re-format this on the site and also re-italicize articles... hopefully it turned out right? Anyway, I'm breaking the paragraphs to make the read more aesthetically pleasing - apologies if I missed a shift. Just a side note; S-duality is a fun little quantum mechanics principle in string theory. This is going to be a slow build, so buckle up!_


	3. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Naruto_** **and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and written purely for entertainment.**...Enjoy!

* * *

 _Chapter Two: easy come, easy go_

Naruto finished his third bowl of ramen and thanked the nice girl behind the counter, Ayame, before pushing the bowl away and finally asking for a cup of coffee to go. It was still only about nine in the morning. While he was waiting for the beverage, he dug his phone out from his pocket and checked to make sure that Sakura hadn't texted him again. She hadn't. But Kiba did.

 _Kiba-to-Naruto: Duuude, I was hammered last night... so many hot chicks..._

Naruto snickered at the message and recalled that his friend had invited him to go to a frat party late last evening, but by the time that Naruto got back to their dorm the dog lover had already hightailed it out of there. Being the gentleman that he was, Naruto was helping Hinata move her things into her dorm on the other side of the quad. Even so, Shino hadn't gone - although he was hardly the type to enjoy that type of commotion - and Naruto had woken up to find Kiba passed out in the middle of their dorm room floor with his pants halfway down and a nasty stain on his shirt. The blond couldn't help it when he had decided to take a sharpie and draw pretty little upside-down triangles on the boy's face as a present for when he woke up. And Kiba was lucky that's all Naruto did; that was tame in the land of Uzumaki pranks.

 _Naruto-to-Kiba: U looked like ur game failed..._

The blonde offered a quick thanks when the coffee was handed to him, but quickly averted his eyes when a _whoop!_ signified Kiba's response.

 _Kiba-to-Naruto: Dude, ull nvr guess who was a brother there last night..._  
 _Kiba-to-Naruto: But seriously, u won't..._  
 _Kiba-to-Naruto: Fucking LEE ROCK!_

Naruto tried to sniff back up the coffee that he had snorted from his nose, and graciously accepted the napkins that Ayame handed him as he blushed a nice crimson in his embarrassment. Lee was enough of a hassle when he was sober, he couldn't imagine him being drunk, much less in a fraternity. Good god, Naruto was terrified. He breathed in deeply, patting under his nose with the brown paper, then tried to casually sip on the coffee again as he leaned one elbow on the counter, rigidly sitting on the stool.

 _Naruto-to-Kiba: ...uve got to be kidding..._

Naruto shuttered and frowned at the screen, honestly, what a horrible thought.

 _Kiba-to-Naruto: Where r u? Class in 5_

"Shit!" he swore and roughly grabbed his backpack from the stool beside him, hoisting it over his shoulder, and tightly held onto his cardboard coffee cup. His legs carried his across campus at a record pace - he was happy he had noted the building when he'd passed it earlier in the morning, recognizing the name as the one on his schedule - though now he stared at the height of it with a pained look. It was five stories tall. _Which classroom, which classroom?_ As hastily as his hands could manage, he reached into his side pocket and yanked out the crinkled piece of paper that held the answer he seeked, squinting at it till he found the time slot in question, "Ah!" he rejoiced and dashed in the building, nearly knocking a few people over in the process, and reached the lecture hall in the back of the building on the first floor. Naruto swung the door open, thankful that the professor seemed to just be turning on the overhead, and spotted Kiba's lazily waving arm on the opposite side of the back row. He meandered over, only managing to trip once, and dumped his pack unceremoniously on the floor before turning to his friend and grinning widely as he plopped in the seat.

"I know it was you, idiot," Kiba pointed to his face, unamused, and rolled his eyes. Naruto snickered under his breath and then innocently sipped on his coffee. He adjusted his gaze to the other side of him and saw Shikamaru and Choji, the former eating a crunchy breakfast, of course.

"Hey guys!" Naruto said brightly and they offered their acknowledgment, "I was wondering how many people from Konoha we'd run into!" Shikamaru regarded him quietly for a moment as the lights were turned lower then waved a hand in a blase manor.

"It's too annoying to keep track of," he shifted his eyes to the screen as a syllabus appeared on it, "It's such bullshit we have to take this class; didn't we prove enough at Konohagakure?"

"Pst, Naruto!" Kiba drew his attention again and the blonde's head snapped to his friend, "doesn't that kid look familiar?" he followed Kiba's outstretched finger to find the back of a head full of tempered red hair, about three rows in front of them. Naruto squinted hard and tried to use his (imaginary) x-ray vision to see the kid's face, but the professor's loud booming voice brought his attention to the front of the classroom.

"Hello kiddos! My name is Dr. Jiraiya Gama, and I'm your English one-oh-one professor this semester," he grinned and winked, his wild white hair glowing in the projector's luminescence, "lucky for you all, right?" Kiba groaned next to Naruto and the blonde just leaned back in his chair, evaluating the man on the small stage at the bottom of the tiers, "So, in this class we will be reading a lot of literature, and while I'd love to focus on romance novels - my personal expertise - I must sadly refrain," Naruto broke out in a cold sweat. _Oh my god, I know where I know his name from..._

"Dude..." Kiba poked at Naruto's blanched face and even Shikamaru and Choji turned to see what the fuss was, "You look like you're gonna be sick..."

"This pervert is the dick who writes the porn that Kakashi read all the time..." Naruto spoke under his breath, fearing for his future in the course while Jiraiya outlined the grading parameters. Shikamaru raised a brow and Kiba grimaced.

"He reads porn in public?" he asked, finding it a little unbelievable since the man was former military and Naruto scoffed.

"Not like magazines, but the shit that book said, man..." he trailed, a shiver running up his spine at the memory of his twelve-year old self letting curiosity lead him to snatching a book while he was visiting Sasuke to only quickly regret it, apologizing to his virginal mind.

"Excuse me!" Jiraiya's boom reached the back of the room and the four boys looked at him, wide eyed, "Do you have a question?" Shikamaru groaned something under his breath about Jiraiya being one of those professors and Naruto furrowed his brows and pointed at the teacher accusingly, making Kiba jerk away from him and Choji nearly crush his bag of munchies.

"You're the pervert that writes the books that Professor Kaka-ah...Hatake reads all the time, yeah?" Jiraiya, rather than looking angry or flustered at the comment, looked rather pleased to have a student with recognition of his work and clasped his hands together.

"Indeed, kiddo, I am the Author of the Icha-Icha series that Dr. Hatake holds so dear!" at this point the whole class had turned to Naruto and he blushed a little under the pressure of their stares, "Speaking of!" Jiraiya pulled up a page that said 'EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY!' in bold writing, and proceeded to explain how the students could read one of his novels and write a paper to- Naruto tuned him out. He finally got a look at the red haired kid and recognized him as Gaara from Sunagakure, a competitor to Konohagakure from Wind Country. Naruto had fought Gaara in his first year at finals, but the way Gaara fought was like he had a vendetta against humanity and Naruto ended up, somehow, knocking some sense into him. Apparently it was the first time the guy had lost a fight. After the competition, Gaara and Naruto spoke, and given that Gaara seemed to have asked the right questions, he became thankful for the life he had and grateful that there were people like Naruto who tried so hard to just be good. Since that year, Gaara had dropped out of martial arts, but every once in a while the two would connect on social media - yet here he was, in the flesh. Gaara had turned to look at the commotion previously and the two locked eyes and Naruto gave a grin and a wave to which Gaara gave a small smile and a nod. It was a short interaction, and then class carried on and Jiraiya finished the syllabus and told the students to go and enjoy the wandering romances of college as they left.

Naruto waited as his friends congregated outside the classroom to chat and caught Gaara upon his exit, yanking him over to their group of four.

"Gaara! It's been forever!" Naruto pulled him in for a quick hug and then released him and the boy awkwardly brushed off his expensive looking shirt before offering a small smile towards the blonde.

"Hello, Naruto," he said respectfully and then turned to Kiba, "Hello...?"

"Kiba," he offered quickly, then pursed his lips, "I know you, right?" he looked past the redhead towards Naruto, "I know him, right?" Naruto chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, kinda, he was at the first MA tournie we had; from Suna," recollection entered Kiba's eyes from Naruto's words and Gaara cleared his throat, eyeing the other two standing across from them, "Oh, yeah, this is Shikamaru and Choji. They both went to Konohagakure with me. Guys, this is Gaara," Naruto grinned, satisfied with himself for giving adequate introductions and they offered short 'hello's. It was ebbing onto the eleventh hour now, and they decided that they were going to grab an early lunch before their next class at twelve-thirty. Exiting their building in their newly formed group of five, they chattered about where to eat - although this largely excluded Gaara, being too polite, and Shikamaru, not really caring - and finally decided on the dining hall where they could choose just about anything (despite Naruto's desperate cries to return to Ichiraku's). As a group, they maundered through the now buzzing throng of students that inhabited the campus, every once in a while having to awkwardly squeeze past another crowd, and finally made it to central campus to a building called Hidden Leaf that housed the comprised of different food venues and a few remote study areas on the second floor. Naruto snorted as he read the sign.

"Not so hidden, to me," he muttered under his breath, and then the crew walked in. It was set up cafeteria style where you would grab a table and then order your food at the venue of your choosing and carry it back to the table, so the group found a spot by some windows that had enough booth seating to fit all of them and dropped their backpacks to stake a claim. Before anyone could even utter a word about plans, Choji scampered off towards the burger joint on the opposite side and the group deadpanned, with the exception of Gaara who blinked curiously behind the rounder boy.

"Anyway," Kiba kicked his bag under the table so that it was out of the way, "I'm gonna go over there to get, like, a burrito or something, i donno," and then he sauntered off towards a ethnic looking joint adjacent to Choji's Burger Paradise. Shikamaru shrugged and strolled idly towards something akin to a salad bar, and Naruto had to laugh and the stark difference in meal choices between the two roommates. He was left with Gaara and kindly turned to him.

"What were you gonna get?" and Gaara truly seemed to contemplate the question as he scanned the choices he had. In the end, he pointed towards another ethnic place, but this one seemed to use an abundance of curry and Naruto scrunched his nose and smacked the petite man on the back, "Er, you have fun with that. I'm gonna go to the general store and pick up some microwave ramen!" his blue eyes had spotted the small convenience store shoved in the corner and thanked his lucky stars that he could eat his beloved, tasty, cheap ramen. Right as Naruto was walking away and saying that he'd meet him back at the table, Gaara placed a heavy hand on his shoulder and Naruto turned back curiously.

"Naruto... I think I've been made aware of something that you should know-"

Choji came back in a rush, excited to eat his burger and slammed into the booth, brushing past the other two and making them jerk away from the movement. Just as Choji was about to dig in, he saw the two boy looking at him with astonishment, Naruto more aghast, and he furrowed his brows.

"...What...?" he asked with his lips around the bun and Naruto shook his head, making a disgusted noise, and stomped off towards the general store. Choji shrugged and took a large bite, leaving Gaara to sigh and glance at the blondes retreating back before going to get his own food.

When everyone made it back to the table there was a variety of smells wafting in the air and Naruto, having to had microwaved his meal, got an end seat across from Gaara and next to Kiba - the booth was a large 'U' shape. Choji had the power seat, Kiba on one side, Shikamaru on the other. Gaara was beside Shikamaru. As Naruto was sitting down he caught on to the second half of a conversation that had started without him.

"-and are the girls hot in Suna? I remember when Shika was forced to do a paper in Sophomore year cuz he's such a lazy-ass he did a report on the MA tournie and there was a chick from Suna that he had an eye on-" Shikamaru gave Kiba a glare as he jabbered, but didn't seem to think it would be worth the effort to make a fuss, "-had her hair in like four balls or somethin', i donno-"

"Temari?" Gaara asked suddenly, and the whole table turned to him. Shikamaru even had the grace to blush a little. Just a little.

"You know who it was?" Naruto asked between slurps of his ramen and Kiba wiped off a stray dab of broth that flew his way, too interested to be angry, and Gaara blinked under all the eyes on him.

"Yes, that's my half-sister," he spoke simply and Naruto stopped slurping while he and Kiba stopped breathing, only to break out in a loud guffaw a moment later as Shikamaru subtly scooted away from the redhead and the blonde barely managed to save his ramen from falling over. Gaara took a graceful bite of his curried chicken and then chewed and swallowed, deciding to elaborate, "she goes here, by the way," and it was then that Naruto saw, if only a little bit, the return of the Gaara he originally met as he turned to look at Shikamaru who stared back at him for a moment before looking away and out the window.

"Tch, women are troublesome," was all he said and he angled his irises to the sky. Gaara smiled something devious and turned back to his meal and Naruto grinned into his ramen; the people he knew were ridiculous. Shikamaru's eyes traveled down and they widened for a moment, absorbing what his retinas were telling him and he paled a bit. Gaara sighed down at his meal, deciding that it was better said then not said, and looked up towards Naruto. Naruto, at the same moment, got a text and pulled his phone out to read it.

And then the world fell apart simultaneously.

"Shit, you're not going to believe me, but Sas-"

 _Sakura-to-Naruto: Kakashi told me Sasuke came to Konoha for University. I don't know wether to tell you I'm so sorry... or I'm really glad... I just needed to tell you._

"Naruto, you deserve to know that Sasuke is here, and-"

"No, like, look!" Kiba cut off Gaara after Shikamaru's earlier observation and Naruto could see him walking clearly past the windows. His hair was a little longer, but he still had the same stoic look and the same confident gait and Naruto felt the world stop around him. Kiba was saying something to him, but he didn't hear it, instead he saw the world move before him and somehow he ended up outside and he was coming up behind Sasuke and it was almost like the bastard heard him because he turned around so abruptly and blocked a fist that Naruto didn't even realize he threw. Sasuke blinked and stared at him, emotion void from breaking through his face, and Naruto stared back, wide eyed and panting from his sprint. Sasuke took the hand that held back Naruto's limp fist and gently lead their two arms back to normal positions, Naruto's swinging back by his side and he continued his shocked gaze. Finally, Sasuke smirked slightly at him and began to turn his shoulder to leave, but Naruto's senses came back and he grabbed the other's shoulder roughly and pulled him back to a spot about a foot in front of him and Sasuke blinked amusedly at the blonde.

"Hey, bastard, no hello? You come back to Konoha and all I get is a fucking blocked fist and a smirk?" Naruto growled and then yanked his arm back and folded his own roughly across his chest and glared at the Uchiha, "I should at least get to land the fucking hit, asshole!" Sasuke smirked again and folded his own arms, evaluating the blonde with his onyx eyes and Naruto glared more under the scrutiny.

"Hi, Naruto," Sasuke spoke mockingly in a low tone and Naruto groaned.

"Well, shit, you ruin everything..." Naruto said defeatedly, unlatching his arms and letting them fall to his sides, slumping in a way that was reminiscent of his younger self. Sasuke's smirk grew and he tilted his head.

"Tch, loser," he said, and Naruto reacted predictably by straightening up and folding his arms again and tightening his jaw, turning his head and looking at Sasuke from the corner of his eye.

"Bastard," he muttered, but his peripheral vision caught a few stagnant figures and he turned to them, previously unaware that they had had an audience. There was a girl was bright red hair beside a guy with stringy silvery hair and a large guy with light amber hair flanking behind them. Naruto blinked at the crew and the girl was the first one that moved, one hand clasped on the guy's arm next to her and the other tightly squeezing at the strap of her backpack as she leaned forward and tentatively reached out, although instead of her hand going towards Sasuke as Naruto presumed it would, it went towards him and he flinched back.

"You're Naruto Uzumaki," she stated, thrusting her palm forward when she realized that Naruto wouldn't reciprocate her actions and Naruto let out a surprised noise as she yanked him forward by his shirt, "holy crap!" she exclaimed in his face and he grimaced, chancing a fleeting look towards Sasuke for... help? He didn't know what to expect. The guy next to the girl bat at the offending arm and she let go, but didn't back away.

"Uh, who are you...?" he asked, a little scared to even find out, and she grinned at him triumphantly while the the silvery haired guy rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Karin Uzumaki!"

Naruto stared blankly at her for a long moment and then sucked in a breath.

"What?" he asked dumbly, and then turned to Sasuke for... help? Again, good god, he didn't know what to expect, this was weird, "what...?" Sasuke chuckled shortly and Naruto missed the flabbergasted look that both Karin and the guy next to her gave the Uchiha. Juugo silently moved his hands and lifted their hanging jaws.

"She's your cousin, moron," Sasuke provided and Naruto sputtered, turning back towards Karin and tugged her into a tight hold.

"No way! We have so much to catch up on! Why are you hanging out with this bastard? Hang out with me! I can't believe that you're long-lost family! I-" Naruto babbled on and Karin looked at Sasuke with wide, terrified eyes over the blondes choking shoulder. The raven haired male looked at her with subdued amusement.

"You shouldn't have told him," he said quietly and looked disinterestedly to the side.

"Isn't this the kid where you guys would beat the crap out of each other?" the guy next to Karin was trying to pry her bone crushing hand from his arm as she was suffocated in Naruto's hug and raised a brow at Sasuke. The Uchiha lulled his eyes back to the blonde's profile and shrugged.

"...Yeah," he said, like it was no big deal, then pulled out his phone and checked the time. Without saying a word, he shoved his phone back in his pocket and began to turn, but a quick hand caught him and he sighed, "Na-what the fuck!?" it wasn't _that_ often when Sasuke had an outburst, so his three companions were caught completely off guard when Naruto had shoved his hand in Sasuke's pocket and slid the - thankfully still unlocked - phone back out and deftly avoided Sasuke's graceful few lunges before he gave up to his pride and let Naruto finish whatever goal he had in mind. Naruto quickly typed, managed to take a picture of himself grinning like a fox, then - to Sasuke's complete and utter horror - Naruto pressed a button on Sasuke's phone and the blonde's back pocket started beeping a tune. The blonde's grin ebbed on painful looking as he handed back Sasuke's sleek, black phone and the Uchiha began to feel like they were kids again as he daintily snatched the silicone away, frown etched on his face, "You're such an idiot-"

"Smile, bastard!" without thinking, Sasuke lifted his head with an unamused expression and got caught in the flash of a picture taken from behind Naruto's bright orange phone case. It was then that Naruto and Sasuke really seemed to share a moment where they realized that for the next four years they were going to be back in each other's presence, and they had a lot to work through, but they were there. Together. Finally. Sasuke frowned.

"I'm going to change my number, moron," Sasuke spoke as he finally turned and began to walk down the promenade, fully aware that he was going to be late for his class. Karin quickly took the opportunity to scamper after him and the shorter guy followed with a confused wave at the blonde. Naruto was left with the tall, daunting looking guy and he looked up at him hesitantly before the guy reached a hand down.

"I'm Juugo, nice to meet you," the guy's voice was deep and Naruto hesitantly took the large hand and shook it.

"Er, hi, Naruto," he gestured to himself, "Uh, how do you guys know...?"

"We all went to Otogakure," Juugo smiled and somehow Naruto felt himself relax a bit. Surprisingly, the guy seemed really kind, "I was a year older; I'm actually a second year here. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Naruto," he nodded down at the blonde and Naruto grinned up at him, albeit a tad tensely, "You grew up with Sasuke?" Naruto nodded mutely, somehow getting the feeling that Juugo knew that already, "He seems different around you," and Juugo left it at that, nodding politely and heading in the opposite direction, presumably towards his own class. Naruto stared blankly at his back and then looked down at the picture of Sasuke he had on his phone. He looked entirely the same, and yet completely different, and Naruto frowned, glancing towards the blank space on campus where Sasuke's figure used to be. And then he fully became aware of himself. He rigidly turned to the window where his friends were pushed up next to it, watching him intently and he blushed and squeaked. Stomping inside, he made it back to the table and felt four pairs of eyes burning into him and he growled.

"What!?"

"Dude..." Kiba floundered, trying to find the right words as Naruto slumped in the seat next to him.

"So, Sasuke's in Konoha," Shikamaru observed, leaning back in his own seat and sending a shifted glance out the window again. Naruto grumbled under him breath, something along the lines of 'I know', and Gaara set his mouth in a line while Choji munched on chips.

"That's what I was trying to tell you, Naruto," Gaara explained and Naruto lifted his brooding eyes from his cold ramen - damn that Uchiha bastard - to the red head.

"Yeah, I know, thanks Gaa-"

"No, Naruto, let me finish," Gaara held up a hand regally and Naruto raised a brow at it but let the kid go on, "Sasuke Uchiha is one of my roommates."

...

"...Say again?" Naruto said lowly. The world was ending. This was weird. Too weird. Gaara opened his mouth to speak again, but Naruto slammed his hands on the table and leaned forward, "How did that-how did that-what was last night even like?" and truly, everyone at the table was curious.

"Uh," Gaara blinked, for the first time seeming a little flustered by the question, "It was... crowded. We are two of four-"

"Two of _four_!?" Kiba broke in, appalled since he was annoyed by three.

"-and there are bunk beds... and we had to figure out who had what bed... apparently the whole arrangement is temporary... it was... honestly a bit of a mess. And there is a guy named Sai - from Konohagakure? -"

"A transfer," all four of them answered automatically.

"-well, he's peculiar. Sasuke found out that he was drawing him and became a little angry. Our other roommate is a person called Deidara... I think Sasuke knew who he was, but they didn't seem very friendly. It's uh..." Gaara cleared his throat and looked out the window, "I believe it's fair to call our dorm room hostile. Though, it's supposed to be temporary," he repeated and sighed, looking back at Naruto, "there's a part of me that feels guilty that I'm in this predicament since I know that you and Sasuke were friends..." it had been one of the things that was delved into during their talk a little over three years ago. Surprisingly, a lot of ground had been covered, and even more surprisingly, Naruto and Gaara got along swimmingly.

"Tch, them living together would bring the dorm down," Kiba piped up beside Naruto and while a flash of disappointment flit through the blondes eyes he couldn't argue the point and scowled.

"Gaara, that's silly, it's not like you chose to live with the bastard," Naruto said, swirling chopsticks in his cold noodles idly, then let go of the wooden utensils and propped his chin on his palm, gazing somewhere beyond Gaara.

"No, I didn't," the red head reasoned with a nod, and closed his to-go container, having finished his meal, "I think that we were forced into a foursome since most of us transferred here," Kiba snickered at the faux pas of a word while Naruto bit back a blush and Shikamaru rolled his eyes at their immaturity. Choji was completely oblivious.

"Really?" Naruto asked, "I'm in a forced triple," he congratulated himself for proper wordage and Kiba snickered louder, "and we are all from Konoha," upon finishing his explanation Gaara raised a thin, very light brow, "Ah, I'm with this douchebag here," he jut a thumb in Kiba's direction who complained at the term, "and this other kid who loves bugs."

"Shino," Choji spoke in between a crunch of a chip and everyone raised a brow at him, "What? One time in kindergarten I guess I stepped on his favorite bugs and he got really mad at me and never let me forget it... but he's actually pretty cool..." he said and popped another chip in his mouth.

"Yeah... he's not bad," Kiba said with a shrug and then folded his arms, "can we focus on the fact that Naruto's favorite punching bag is back in town? Or vice-versa?"

"Fuck you," Naruto elbowed him roughly and pouted in his seat. He still wasn't sure how to feel about it, and it hadn't entirely settled in yet.

"Look, all I know is that this year is gonna be really fucking crazy," Kiba grinned, enjoying the drama, and Shikamaru sighed across from him.

"It's going to be really _annoying_ ," he amended and pushed his plate away from himself, Choji picking up one of the last cherry tomatoes. Gaara eyed Naruto who had taken out his phone while the others began to pack their things together to get ready to go to their next class. Naruto stared at the message that Sakura sent and then bit his lip. He was glad she was trying to look out for him, at least that what he assumed she was doing, but he couldn't resist a shock factor when the opportunity presented itself. He quickly typed back and attached an image with a devious smirk, then snatched his cold ramen - what a shame - from the table and walked with his friends to the exit of Hidden Leaf, towards the academic buildings on campus.

* * *

Sakura had just reached her dorm, still feeling anxious that Naruto hadn't sent her a response to her rash text, and walked into her dorm room, finding Ino re-applying mascara in front a small mirror placed on her desk. The blonde waved a hand in acknowledgment, and Sakura set her bag down before hearing a _ping!_ that told her she had a message. She hastily fished her flower covered phone from her back pocket and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Naruto's name. She must've stared at her phone for a while because Ino turned around and gave her an odd look.  
"Forehead, you alright?"

"Hmmnnmm," was what she managed and Ino got up worriedly, walking over and leaning to see the name on the phone.

"It's just Naruto..." Ino said confusedly, and looked up at her friend, "Sakura?"

"Kakashi said..." Sakura started, but she found her hands shaking in anticipation of what Naruto's reaction was, "Kakashi told me..." she couldn't take it anymore and swiped her thumb across the screen. Immediately she gawked and Ino did the same beside her.

 _Naruto-to-Sakura: Yeh, I found that out for myself (don't worry, no bruises)_

And then there was a picture of Sasuke looking slightly past the camera - clearly caught off guard - with an unpleased expression, but there was a familiarity in his mien, set somewhere deep in his eyes, that she identified as something she recalled only seeing when he looked at Naruto. _Wow... this is really weird..._

"Damn, he's still really, _really_ hot," Ino tutted and Sakura shoved her before locking her phone screen and putting it somewhere far away from her where she could pretend it didn't exist.

"Shut up, pig."

* * *

 _Author's Note: So, I got a little excited and... decided to post this. Enter: Sasuke. :)  
_


	4. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Naruto_** **and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and written purely for entertainment.**...Enjoy!

* * *

 _Chapter Three: facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored_

"I saw you behind the window," was the first thing that Sasuke said when he got back to his hell-hole of a dorm that night and saw Gaara sitting uncomfortably hunched on his top bunk. And he had. Sasuke had sharp eyes, and he noticed everything - given, his vision was getting crappier, but contacts and glasses did a man wonders and Sasuke had keen senses otherwise. Gaara looked up from his notebook that he loomed over and blinked at the broody male.

"Yes," was all the red head offered, though he didn't look away and Sasuke calmed his nerves inwardly, outwardly looking stoic as ever.

"You're friends with Naruto?" he asked flatly, still having not moved from in front of the door which he entered from. For the moment, they were in the dorm alone.

"Yes," Gaara answered again shortly with the same blank look but a polite tone and Sasuke narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly before letting it go and walking in to dump his backpack on the floor by the ladder for his bunk - unfortunately he got a top buck as well - and he glared at the ladder. As a precaution, he ducked around the corner of the bed and pulled at the bottom drawer of the nightstand - this was where Sai kept his sketchbooks - while Gaara's curiosity piqued and he watched the movement. Sasuke began to silently flip through the pages, looking for anything that looked like him, and when he found one that clearly depicted him sleeping he scoffed and tore it out, shredding it and tossing the pieces into the trashcan, "Why do you do that?" Gaara spoke up, truly intrigued as to why the Uchiha was so offended by Sai's drawings of him. Sasuke paused his leafing through the pages to glance over his shoulder and frowned.

"Would you like someone to depict you in an artistic expression when they had absolutely no foundational knowledge of who you were? It's an invasion of privacy," Sasuke turned back and ripped out another page and held it up to Gaara before he violently tore it, although he was tempted to burn it, "and it's fucking creepy," the picture was a sketch of Sasuke drying his hair while still in a towel, wet from the shower. Gaara couldn't help the small smirk that played on his face as Sasuke tossed the remnants into the trash, then, satisfied that he found all the offensive material, shoved the drawing pads back in the nightstand and slammed it shut with his foot.

"Maybe you should find compliment in the attention," Gaara suggested and Sasuke shot him a disconcerted glance before it morphed into a glare and he ambled back around the bunk and slid a book from his bag as he ascended the ladder. The two sat in a surprisingly comfortable silence, Gaara checking his phone after it buzzed every once in a while, before Sasuke heard his own _beep!_ once. He took the device from his pocket, marking the spot he was at in his textbook with his highlighter, and unlocked it.

 _Suigetsu-to-Sasuke:_ _Sooo, Konoha..._

Sasuke blinked at the text and frowned. Was that his way of trying to coax information from him? He locked his phone and put it down, only to have it go off again a second later and he inwardly groaned. He should've known this was coming, and honestly he did, he just didn't think it would be on the second day after arrival.

 _Suigetsu-to-Sasuke:_ _I knew you were from here but I didn't know that you had... like... friends(!?) here..._

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the message; did he really think that deserved a response? Apparently it didn't matter because Suigetsu was on a roll.

 _Suigetsu-to-Sasuke:_ _You never talked about shit here, so I assumed it was crap! But ppl kept looking at you like the returned prodigal son today... wtf, man!?_

Sasuke was ready to turn his phone off when Suigetsu's next text was... odd.

 _Suigetsu-to-Sasuke: So, like, should we expect abje?dkjb!e_

And Sasuke stared at that for a good second before deciding he really couldn't give a shit, as long as the guy stopped pestering him. Lo-and-behold, his phone indicated another message, yet thankfully this one was from another sender.

 _Karin-to-Sasuke: I confiscated his phone._

 _Sasuke-to-Karin: Thanks._

And then there were a good fifteen minutes of blissful silence until Deidara bounced through the door. Sai came traipsing in after him and the both went to their respective beds, each pulling out artistic knickknacks and dumping them on their comforters. It was very possible they had come from the same class. Sasuke heard Sai fumbling below him with the drawer and then a rustle of papers and an abrupt stop. Honestly, he had tried not to catch Gaara's eye as he subtly looked up from his book, truly and honestly, yet he had and Gaara was giving him a knowing sort of look before he carefully directed his own gaze back to his notebook and feigned ignorance. _Damned Suna brat..._ and then a dark brunette head of hair invaded his vision and Sai was staring at him blankly, holding up the notebook that clearly had a page ripped from it's seam. Sasuke blinked down at the other male and offered no reaction before looking back at his book and proceeding to highlight something that probably wasn't necessary.

"Why?" Sai asked, pointing to the seam with a hard tap and Sasuke glanced up with slightly raised brows. This caught Deidara's attention and he shifted his eyes from his miscellaneous art supplies to the back of Sai's head then to Sasuke's face.

"What'd this little shit do, eh?" Deidara asked smoothly and Sasuke let his dark irises travel to the long haired blonde with disdain. Sai looked over his shoulder and blankly swapped the direction of which the drawing pad was facing, showing the frayed edges of where the page was ripped out, and Deidara frowned, looking at Sasuke with clear disappointment, "You ruined art? I mean, that's not like fun art, but it's still art, yeah?" Sasuke looked up towards Gaara in silence for a short moment, seeing him still jotting things into that notebook of his, and then looked back at the sentence that he highlighted that went along the lines of 'and the statements following were disproved by the theory proposed in 1874...'.

"Don't draw pictures of me without my approval," he said lowly and the room around him was silent.

"May I draw pictures of you?" Sai asked, an innocence edging into his voice and Sasuke fought the angry twitch in his palm.

"No."

"Then how am I supposed to draw pictures of you?"

"You're not," Sasuke breathed through his nose and tried really hard to focus on his textbook. The words were jumbling together and his head was beginning to ache.

"Sasuke," Deidara's voice came to his ears and it was almost demeaning and Sasuke did his best to center himself and call upon all the calm he had instilled in himself to not pummel the jackass into oblivion, "You're brother would love to have some sent back, I'm sure, eh," and that snarky comment was the last straw. Sasuke slammed the textbook shut and very accurately chucked the highlighter at Deidara's right eye with force which had him doubling over and holding it with a pained noise.

"Don't talk to me like you know me," Sasuke said darkly and Sai smartly moved out of his line of sight to sit under the bunk and the Uchiha clenched his palms while Deidara muttered expletives and something about how he needed his phone to text Sasori. Gaara peered at the scene curiously and decidedly texted Naruto some choice information as Sasuke hopped off his bunk, landing flawlessly on his feet, grabbed a few items and slunk out of the room while the injured blonde fumbled around his comforter for his phone.

"He's mad, isn't he?" Sai's question was the last thing Sasuke heard before he slammed the door shut and leaned against the front side of it for a second. He still really needed to get his anger management skills under better control. A short sigh escaped him, then he dug out his phone from his pocket and debated texting someone to see if they were around campus somewhere, but decided against it. He was always better as a lone ranger, anyway. He wandered down the hallway and continued down the stairwell, opening the doors at the end to escape into the brisk air of Konoha's night. Admittedly, there was a sort of calming affect about the climate that Fire Country had and it was- _Stop thinking so much..._ he berated himself. Sasuke ambled through campus with his hands in his pockets, wandering the now lonely stone corridors and enjoying the relative silence, only betrayed by a few stray students between night classes or commuting from a food source. He found himself in a small grove adjacent to the central most part of campus, and on the other side he could see a stand called Ichiraku's. He squinted at it in the dark and read that it was a twenty-four hour coffee and ramen stand and chuckled to himself quietly. That had Naruto written all over it.

His thoughts brought him back to his encounter earlier in the day and he sobered, recalling the interactions. He had expected to see Naruto, it was Konoha and most graduates of Konohagakure went to this university, but he hadn't expected it to come to a head this quickly. It was, like he thought earlier in the day, only the second day. Although, he had to admit to himself that it had been oddly anticlimactic. But he guessed that four years and maybe a bit of maturity would do that. And it's not like they hadn't had the chance to duke it out in the past. They had; many times. When Sasuke still lived here they fought all the time, but it wasn't really more than competition. Ironically, at actual competition it had been personal. But Naruto didn't understand. Sasuke _had_ to leave. He knew that Naruto was mad that he left without warning, but... Well, Naruto made sure Sasuke knew he had been mad, certainly. And even if Naruto didn't understand, he actually _did_ understand, and he just didn't agree. That had been the worst part. There was no way that they could see eye to eye. But he couldn't deny that it hurt. Severing ties with Naruto was like severing off his own arm; it had been painful. But Sasuke's younger self had his mind set and he was determined.

Then their last competition happened. Naruto beat him, and that had never happened before, and all he said was for Sasuke to come home in the most cold, tired and worn out voice he'd ever heard from the blonde and it was like he was telling Sasuke that he wanted him to rebuild his bridges, mend his ties, but that Naruto understood that this might be the last time he saw him and if that was how Sasuke wanted it then Naruto would let it lie. Then he turned around, and all Sasuke saw was Naruto's back and something in his heart sank. _The last time.._. played over and over again in his head as he watched his best friend's retreating figure. All that history, all those childhood memories, all those parts of Naruto that gave Sasuke a smidgen of hope in humanity. Naruto did, indeed, seem like a light in the darkness a lot of times. Yet, Sasuke had a lot of pride, and it wasn't until recently that he was learning to swallow it. There were a lot of reasons that Sasuke came back to Konoha for university... but he'd be lying if he said the idea of never seeing Naruto again scared him. That loser was some sort of safety line, but Sasuke hadn't swallowed enough pride to claim that out loud yet. For all the times that Sasuke had saved Naruto out on the streets when he refused to go back to the orphanage, because somewhere Sasuke really did have a bleeding heart, Sasuke didn't realize that maybe it was himself that Naruto was unknowingly trying to save. He scoffed out loud at the thought, at least until a sadness settled in his eyes when he thought about how much they knew about each other and, at the same time, how little. It was odd. They knew each other emotionally like the back of their hands, their back stories were clear enough to get a grip of each other's mental struggles, and yet socially they were... exponentially stunted. They didn't particularly 'get along'; not traditionally, at least.

Sasuke blinked himself out of his revere as a throng of students, likely a class letting out, emerged from a building near by and felt silly for having contemplated his and Naruto's relationship so long in the darkness of the bench nestled under the tree. His eyes caught onto a mass of blonde, messy hair walking beside bright pink hair and he felt his muscles stiffen, immediately recognizing the two heads and cursing his luck. Fortunately for him, though, they beelined for the food stand and bellied up to some stools. He felt a twinge of some unnamed emotion as he watched a silvery haired professor with a medical mask join on the other side of Sakura and he stared at them from the long distance across the square, watching as Naruto sheepishly grinned and Sakura smacked him lightly while Kakashi rested his chin on his palm and, presumably, smiled at them both. It was surreal, and somehow painful. And distinctly reminiscent of their childhood exploits for their projects. Yet something was missing... _It's you, bastard!_ a voice that sounded disturbingly similar to Naruto's sounded in his head and he found a sad kind of smile ebb on his features. They seemed to order food and he watched as Sakura seemingly asked Kakashi a question and Naruto gazed at the two, then his eyes visibly shifted to the empty seat beside Kakashi and he frowned. It was only a moment more before he pulled out his obnoxious phone from his pocket and began to type away at it. When he finished he rested the phone in his lap, almost as if he were anticipating that he would have to look at it soon. A quiet _beep!_ made Sasuke twitch and he was glad that there were enough people still walking in the square that it didn't stand out and he fished out his phone, looking down at the screen and surprised to see the nametag of 'Naruto, you bastard XP' pop up on his phone and a little square with the blonde's grinning image was pulled up next to it. He snorted quietly and swiped at the screen, opening the message.

 _Naruto-to-Sasuke: Ure back in Konoha._

It wasn't a question. It was Naruto letting the information sink in and, as per usual, speaking his thoughts when Sasuke hadn't asked. Even so, he looked up and saw the blonde fidget with the edge of his phone, all the while grinning and talking to Sakura. But it was _that_ grin. The fake one that pissed him off immensely. So, just to wipe it off his face, Sasuke typed back soundlessly.

 _Sasuke-to-Naruto: Yeah._

Sasuke watched as Naruto jumped in his seat and hurriedly checked his phone as soon as Sakura turned from him, and almost warm smile spreading across his features as he read it. It seemed like Naruto decided not to test his luck because he locked his phone and shoved it back in his pocket, digging into his ramen with a grin; but this one was different. Sasuke scoffed lightly at himself at turned away from the contented crew, silently standing up and heading in the opposite direction. He hadn't eaten yet, anyway... He walked to the Hidden Leaf and found a place that sold quinoa salad and ordered that, asking for some extra tomato slices on top, and got it packaged to-go. As he paid for the meal, he realized he didn't want to go back to his room, yet at the same time he didn't feel like sitting in a brightly lit, public place where anyone could bother him. He sighed. Sasuke grabbed the utensils he needed and filled a cup with water before heading back out into the night to find a nice, private spot.

"Sasuke," any other voice would have made Sasuke cringe, but he fully welcomed this one.

"Juugo," he greeted with a polite nod as the other walked up to him in long strides.

"Where are you headed?" the taller male asked, adjusting a strap. Sasuke simply looked silently at Juugo and the red haired man blinked at him, "Here, come with me," he offered kindly and Sasuke nodded his assent before they began to trek to a large dome shaped building a good ten minutes from where they had been. Juugo swiped his student ID and a light flashed green before he pulled the door open and Sasuke stepped in the dome behind the larger individual, "This is the aviary," Juugo said as they walked in further. The dome was filled with beautiful vegetation and flora, twisting in vines up the sides and bushes and trees scattered around. From where they entered there was a long wooden walkway that led to some benches and some devices that Sasuke couldn't name. The chirping of the birds was subdued since the lights were off in the evening hours and it was just the moon's light and a few beams of security lamps that intruded on the space. The two walked to the center and Juugo put down his own bag, pulling out a sandwich he had apparently packed and Sasuke tentatively opened his dinner. The aviary was beautiful and peaceful, and it was exactly the type of atmosphere that Sasuke had been seeking. He looked at his friend, fork hovering over his meal, and Juugo glanced over.

"Thank you," was all Sasuke said before Juugo smiled and they ate in a comfortable silence. They spent a while afterwards listening to the bird songs and Sasuke stared at the moon above them through the glass, "Juugo," the second year turned to him, "how did you get in here?"

"I'm a bio major," Juugo said with a smile and Sasuke nodded at him silently. He hadn't known that. Not that he couldn't have predicted that, Sasuke was great at observing, but he hadn't _known_ that... and he felt kind of bad about it.

"I think that suits you," he told Juugo and the other nodded shortly, eyes following a bird that flew from one tree to another on the opposite side.

"I think so, too," Juugo responded, then turned to Sasuke, "I hope this helped," the raven eyed his friend, unable to keep the thought that he was wise beyond his years from his mind.

"I appreciate that you shared this with me," he told him. Sasuke was trying. Truly he was. He didn't have to hate the world, he knew that. Juugo surveyed him carefully then packed his things and stood up.

"Sasuke, I think you can do really great things; I do," as Juugo said this, Sasuke looked at him almost painfully, but the older of the two told him that he could stay as long as he wished but that he had to go. Sasuke stayed in the aviary for maybe a half an hour more before he resolved to go back.

When he made it back to his dorm, Deidara was already snoozing on his bottom bunk and Sai was wordlessly drawing to a light strung behind his headboard. Gaara was under his comforter, reading a book with a heavy blush and Sasuke couldn't help but look at the cover and he blanched.

"Why do you have that?" he asked flatly and Gaara jumped slightly in his position and looked down at the source of the question. Sasuke eyed the book with contrite disconcertion, having it bring back too many awkward memories from when he was living with Kakashi, and Gaara cleared his throat.

"I, um, Dr. Jiraiya assigned it as extra credit and..." he seemed a little lost for words so Sasuke finished for him.

"Burn it," he told him and Gaara's eyes widened, "Or if you have Ka-...Dr. Hatake, give it to him; Might get you an A," he said as he walked to the desk by the foot of the bunk and grabbed his contact case and glasses, completely ignoring Sai altogether. Gaara glanced between Sasuke and the book, then mumbled.

"It's really, um, lewd," the red head's voice was quiet and Sasuke rolled his eyes in the dark room before he pulled his lenses out and submerged them in solution, tightening the case and sliding on his glasses. He climbed up the bunk and laid down, staring at the ceiling.

"It's raunchy," he corrected, then turned his head to the side to see the utterly confused look on Gaara's face, presumably at how it could be called literature, "It's trash, really," Sasuke said in a bored tone and Gaara sighed and chucked the book out of the open window between the two beds. That was an action that Sasuke hadn't exactly expected and he stared blankly at Gaara who gazed back, unmoved.

"I believe you," was all he said, then he turned out his bed lamp and turned over. Sasuke furrowed his brows at the now relative pitch, with the exception of Sai's small light, and found the edge of his lips make a small twitch. Gaara was weird. Kind of like Naruto. Maybe that's why they were friends. Sasuke faced the ceiling again and slid his black framed glasses off, placing them next to him and closing his eyes, hoping that sleep would come easier that night than it did the previous. Unfortunately, that hope was in vain when he finally fell asleep three hours later, unwillingly listening to the varied noises of three other people sleeping.

* * *

Naruto put his phone away after receiving Sasuke's short response with a satisfaction and focused back on the two people before him. Sakura and Naruto were in a history course together and happened upon Kakashi on his way out of a classroom next to their own. Naruto happily greeted the man and asked him to follow them to Ichiraku for a late serving of ramen, to which the professor chuckled and agreed.

"Ah, it's been so long, ya know?" Naruto said to Sakura and she offered him a small smile before they both prodded at their ramen. The odd feeling that someone was watching him finally left Naruto, and he couldn't help but turn around fleetingly. His eyes caught on a bench that was nestled under some large trees on the opposite side of the square, though it was empty and Naruto raised a brow before turning back to his ramen and slurping at it.

"Gah, the way you eat is so gross!" Sakura reprimanded, leaning away in hopes of avoiding stray broth. Naruto ignored the comment in favor of enjoying the salty goodness.

"Now, Sakura, just because you're one of my favorite past pupils doesn't mean you're going to get an automatic A, you know that, right?" Kakashi said idly from the other side of the girl and her disgusted expression morphed to something mortified as she turned to him.

"I would never assume-!"

"Don't be an ass, Kakashi," Naruto muttered between his noodles and Kakashi chuckled when Sakura bonked him on the back of the head and he jerked forward with a complaint, then he bit off his strand of noodles and swallowed, looking straight at Kakashi with a serious expression, "I have Jiraiya," the words came out low and Sakura looked at him confused while Kakashi stared at him blankly before he breathed in a deep breath of air through his nose.

"Dear god, there's hope for you yet," the older man breathed out and Naruto deadpanned.

"The guy's a pervy crackpot!" Naruto burst and Sakura self-consciously looked around to see if anyone was listening, only a few heads turned while walking, and Kakashi tutted.

"Now, now, Naruto!" Kakashi lifted a finger and waggled it in the air, "there's no reason to be jealous of master Jiraiya's poetic works!" he said, the skin under his eyes pulling up as he smiled. Naruto gaped at him briefly, then decided it wasn't worth the fight and angrily went back to his ramen.

"I'm... a little confused..." Sakura admit and Naruto whined through the noodles while Kakashi seemed all too happy to clear it up for her.

"Ah, you see, Dr. Jiraiya is the author of the famed Icha-Icha series and-" Sakura's hand was held up in front of Kakashi's face with an irritated expression, her eyes shut.

"Please, say no more," she basically growled at him and Kakashi chuckled and went back to leaning his chin on his palm.

"Alright you two, it was great to catch up, but I really must go," they both looked at his empty bowl - when had that happened? - and watched as he stood up but Sakura's strong arm reached out and held him in place while Naruto leaned across her, looking at him accusingly.

"Not this time, you don't!" Naruto held a hand out expectantly and Kakashi looked genuinely confused.

"You're not skipping out on paying on us," Sakura threatened, her grip tightening, and Kakashi's eyes widened.

"What...?"

"What, what!?" Naruto asked, annoyed at the man's baffled tone.

"I would always leave extra money with Sasuke for him to pay for my meal... he didn't...?" everyone blinked at each other and then Naruto burst out in a loud guffaw, leaning back.

"That _bastard!_ " the blonde shook his head and bit his lip, a morose smile on his features and his eyes flit to his old monitor, "Didn't you wonder how he bought his plane ticket?" and it dawned on all of them. Sasuke had long since been stashing away money to go chase his brother, "that bastard," Naruto muttered again, laughing mirthfully to himself. Kakashi sighed and put down a lump of cash on the table.

"I probably owe you guys some meals, then," he told them kindly, "here's repayment number one," and then he waved goodbye and they did the same to him.

"Hey, Naruto...?" Sakura spoke softly, like she was trying not to poke the beast, "I never did get the chance to... how was...?" Naruto sighed and looked at her tiredly.

"Truthfully, I'm tired of running after someone who doesn't want to be chased," he spoke honestly, eyes angled down, "But you know how I am. I saw him. Here. _In Konoha_. And it was like... tunnel vision," Naruto laughed at his absurdity, but continued to stare at the ground and kept on, "I saw him outside the window, and then I was there behind him, throwing a punch, and the bastard caught it. It was... I donno. Then I was angry at him, then he said hello and... it was... _normal_. Which was weird. But he had some friends with him - and that was awkward - but one of them is my cousin? Juugo seemed nice though... Anyway, I-!" Naruto debated telling her that he had Sasuke's number, really he did, but then she would ask for it and he felt like he would be breaking the small band of trust that he had maybe just rekindled today, so he thought better of it, "-whipped my phone out and snatched a picture!" smiled triumphantly and Sakura blinked at all the information.

"...and you... took a picture of him?" the question came out blankly and Naruto shrugged, as if that's what anyone would have done in his situation. Sakura tried to put herself in Sasuke's shoes and imagine how she would feel if Naruto had done the same to her, then scrunched her nose up, "Er, Naruto, I don't know if that's the best way to be friends with him again..." Naruto looked genuinely surprised.

"Again?" he repeated and Sakura was taken off guard, confused by what she said wrong, "Sakura, despite everything, that bastard is _still_ my best friend... and I guarantee that I'm still his," his words were confident and Sakura stared wide eyed at her friend, wondering how he could possibly feel so strongly on the matter, "anyway, it's late and Ino is probably worried about you," Naruto grinned, but Sakura couldn't shake off her uneasy shock, "I'll walk you back to you're dorm," she nodded mutely and they gathered their things, Naruto offering a quick 'thank you' to the shop, then they set off towards their buildings. They had been walking in silence for a while when Naruto saw a familiar figure and pulled them in the opposite, more round about direction.

"Naruto, what are you-!?" Sakura's shrill complaint was cut off by the blonde's hand snapping over her mouth as he shuffled them down a campus walk, eager to gain some distance.

"Unless you want and encounter with the guy who calls you his 'beautiful cherry blossom', I suggest that we skedaddle!" Naruto whispered urgently and darted them into another walk, just to throw off the trail. Sakura ripped Naruto's hand off her mouth to gape at him and hastily kept his pace.

" _Lee is a student here_!?" her low voice was like a viper and Naruto tried not to laugh while he nodded, wind blowing in their faces at their speed now.

"What's worse is that he's a brother in a frat, so he's recruiting," Naruto watched as Sakura imagined Lee Rock in a fraternity and paled, this time he let a small laugh escape him as the salvation of their dorm finally came into sight. Just as they reached the doorway Kiba was on his way out and Naruto raised a brow at him, "Where are you headed?"

"Oh," Kiba shrugged and nodded to where, much to Sakura and Naruto's horror, Lee was entering the courtyard, "I'm meeting Lee about greek life," the other two shared a quick, desperate look.

"Mkay, have fun!" Sakura said quickly, then grabbed Naruto's arm and yanked him in the building, slamming the door shut behind her. Chancing a glance behind them, Naruto just saw Lee mouth Sakura's name through the glass and snickered as they ascended the stairs that led to their rooms.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hello! So, we might be in the 'reunion arch' of this for a bit longer, haha. There's actually a substantial bit to cover, I think. Also, more tidbits about the past will be explained periodically - it_ is _similar to canon-line, but this is very much an AU, so discrepancies should be addressed... and there are some histories hidden in the shadows, so it seems. (I want to clarify if anything is ambiguous - cough, cough the vast majority of their childhood cough, cough - it's likely purposeful... for now.) I'd love to hear your feedback - and I would like to thank my first reviewers for their encouragements. I hope this story continues to intrigue! Till next time._


	5. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Naruto_** **and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and written purely for entertainment.**...Enjoy!

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 _Chapter Four: wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness_

"What is this?" Naruto heard Kiba's voice grumble as he was waking up, blearily rubbing his eyes on his top bunk and taking note of the fact that his blanket was hanging off the side of the bed, "Huh?" Kiba's tone sounded again, confused, and Naruto found his foot - was it hanging over the railing? Oops... - being tugged at roughly, "Hey dumbass, it's for you," and a bright shade of pink obscured his vision. Naruto complained and grabbed the blaring paper away from Kiba and out of his face, squinting at it and trying to read past his morning grogginess. Kiba walked away and muttered something about it having been taped to the door. Then the dorm door was slammed closed and Naruto tried to get the taste of cotton mouth out of his taste buds.

 _Dear Mr. Naruto Uzumaki,_  
 _We apologize for the inconveniences that this year's higher that average incoming class population have caused you, and for the unfortunate circumstances that have come to directly impact you in the form of forced over occupancy in a dorm room. The board has reviewed multiple cases and a conclusion has been drawn to remedy the current situation in the terms available under our dictation. Being as such, your presence is requested to attain a new room assignment at your convenience today in the Student Housing Office in Sarutobi Hall, room 1008._  
 _Thank you for your cooperation,_  
 _The Student Housing Office_

Naruto blinked at the paper and then sat up in his bed abruptly.

"What!?" came his loud screech, then he glanced to the side and offered an apologetic wave towards Shino who'd looked at him from atop his bed, popping an earphone out from his ear, "Ah, looks like I'm movin' out!" Naruto held the paper up and pointed to it, despite the fact that Shino probably couldn't read it from his position. The quieter male stared blankly for a moment and then frowned.

"That's a shame," he said flatly, but even so, Naruto got the impression that he we being sincere and he felt his heart swell a little bit for the creepy bug dude.

"Awe, I'll still be around, no worries," Naruto grinned and Shino nodded, then put his earphone back in and flipped through pages on his tablet. Naruto shrugged and supposed that was enough emotion to receive from the kid and looked back at his paper. He recalled the way that Kiba slammed the door and figured that maybe his friend was angry; he'd have to talk to him later. With a sigh, he stretched his arms up and heard his shoulder pop, then swung over the side of the bunk and rummaged through the drawers for some fresh boxers. When he found a pair that he thought were his, he grabbed his towel from the wardrobe door and went towards the shower in their adjoined bathroom.

It was now midweek and Naruto had made it through the first of most of his classes. He only had one new one today and then another new one tomorrow and then - thank god - no classes on friday. He found out that he had a statistics course with Hinata, Ino and Shikamaru (thank god), and immediately sat next to the lazy genius and proposed a study group. Ino hastily agreed and clung onto his arm while Hinata just smiled sweetly, in that way that she does, and Shikamaru sighed and said he would email out notes. They found themselves seated in the back row of the mid-sized room, conveniently placed in a row of four computers with Hinata nearest the wall and Ino in aisle. The blonde girl kept batting her eyes at a pretty-boy a few rows up the whole class, but it came to little avail, and eventually she gave up and doodled the rest of the class while their professor, Dr. Yamato, covered the syllabus dutifully. At the end of the class, Dr. Yamato went on a short tangent about how math makes up the whole world and how it shouldn't be taken for granted; that it, in fact, creates the theoretical building blocks of the universe. Post digression, he stared at them with the creepiest smile Naruto had ever seen and dismissed them.

Today, Naruto's english class was cancelled, for Jiraiya's 'personal research' apparently, and that just left him with communications class later on in the day. He decided that he wanted to get ready and get this whole room debacle worked out first so that he didn't have to bother with the key after class and could just start moving his stuff - what little of it there was. He hung the towel on it rack and stepped into the shower stall, pulling it shut behind him, and angled his face into the water to wash the rest of the sleep away. It was a few minutes that he stood under the faucet before he started to lather shampoo in his hair and he groaned lightly as the warm spray hit his tight shoulder muscles. He only spent maybe ten minutes washing up then turned the knob and stepped out, rubbing the towel over his unruly hair then fastening it around his waist. He walked back into the dorm room to see Shino in the same position and snorted, reaching in the wardrobe and grabbing a pair of track pants and a forest green shirt with a red swirl on it. It was his favorite brand when he was a kid, and it was still his favorite brand now; _so sue me_. Naruto was never one to have much shame, so he dropped the towel and pulled on the pants and yanked the shirt on afterwards, turning around to see that Shino hadn't even spared a glance. As Naruto walked past, he sneaked a peek at the tablet screen at saw a youtube video about bugs and shuttered. _Ew_. He rubbed the towel on his head again for good measure then slug it over the wardrobe door and grabbed any necessities he needed along with his backpack, figuring he may as well spend the day outside before his class if he was leaving now anyway.

Once he reached middle campus he had to subtly, meaning very awkwardly and conspicuously, walk to a directory to see where Sarutobi Hall was and he narrowed his eyes at the board, trying to connect the dots, when a deep voice sounded behind him.

"You look lost," Naruto spun around quickly and eye'd the older Hyuuga, first with surprise, then with a grin, "do you need help?"

"Yes!" Naruto didn't hesitate and placed his palms together in a pleading motion, "And you're a maps major, right?" Neji raised a brow, "Hinata told me - help me!" he pleaded and the Hyuuga sighed, somehow looking extremely composed.

"I'm a Remote Sensing major," he corrected, "But, yes, it's geography. What do you need?" Naruto explained in a rush, and unnecessarily, what his situation was and Neji easily pointed him in the direction of the right building, then thought better of it and told him that he could escort him there, knowing that Naruto would get lost. Naruto glared at the last comment, but didn't deny it and contentedly followed the long haired male across the stoney routes. Naruto grinned smugly to himself as he thought about how he thought Shikamaru was bad with the man-bun. Neji brought it to a whole new level. Maybe he would start braiding it and bring about the man-braid trend, "We're here," Neji's voice cut into Naruto's thoughts and the blonde quickly wiped the smirk from his face at the other turned around, "Good luck, Naruto," he said and then began to walk off.

"Hey, Neji!" Naruto stopped him and the other turned around, "Thanks!" Neji nodded and then continued on his path again and Naruto entered the smaller, administrative building. It didn't take long to find the office and woman sat behind a desk with a... pig by her feet. _What?_ "Um, excuse me...?"

"Huh?" the woman glanced up from what looked like papers she was grading and eyed the blonde boy, "Oh, hello!" she smiled at him, though she looked a little stressed out, "I have to apologize, I'm only moonlighting here today as a favor, so... anyway, which one are you?" Naruto blanched at the question and stumbled in slightly.

"H-how many are there?"

"Oh, it's a mess this year!" the woman smiled morosely and Naruto plopped in the seat in front of her, dumping his bag beside him.

"Er, I'm Naruto Uzumaki," she spoke his name in it's syllables and flipped through a stack of papers to her right, trying to find the right one.

"I'm Professor Shizune, by the way," he assumed she was trying to make conversation to fill an otherwise awkward silence, "technically I'm still a grad student, but they have me teaching a few classes to finish up my degree and side jobs like this are little perks-ah!" she pulled out a sheet and scanned over it, "Okay, hold on," she spoke and turned around to open a cabinet behind her and snatch two keys, then turned to face him again and slid the items across the desk, "So the first one is to the common room and the second is to your double," when he gave her a confused look she seemed to reverse the gears in her head and started over, "Right. You're a freshman, aren't you?" she smiled kindly at him and Naruto nodded, "So, since there's been a small student population boom, all of the freshman dorms are full; that's why you're here. To get you out of your forced-" Shizune's eyes glanced down to reference the original paper, "-triple, the administration decided to put you in an upperclassmen dorm. It's nothing fancy, but it has a small common room between your double occupancy room and another double occupancy room in the same flat. Otherwise there's a shared bathroom and a kitchenette - meaning you have a mini-fridge and a microwave. The building itself isn't far away from the freshmen dorms, so hopefully it will be an easy transition; and your student ID will still have access to all the freshmen dorm due to your classification. Anyway~!" she finished with a smile and handed him the paper that she was holding that held his new room number on it, "Just bring back your old key by tomorrow evening!" Naruto looked at the paper and tried to absorb all the information, then an important question plagued him.

"Are my dorm-mates other freshmen?"

"Oh, yes, in the same predicament at you," she assured him and tapped her fingers on the desk. Was she ready for him to leave? Naruto bit his lip and read the assignment.

 _Foundation Hall, room 212A._

"Do you-?"

"I'm not sure who the other assignments are, sorry," she smiled kindly, but he felt suspicious that she just didn't feel like looking it up, and she covered it up by offering further information, "The Hall is at the end of the Valley; it's the collection of the most original dorms on campus," Naruto pursed his lips, yet nodded and decidedly let her on with her day, collecting his things and sliding the items into his pocket, using the zipper for safe measure.

"Nice to meet you," he threw over his shoulder and she smiled at him and waved. He walked out of the building and pulled his phone out to check the time, realizing he had about forty-five minutes before class he decided to head to Ichiraku and grab a coffee before he went. By the time he got to the stand he had killed ten minutes and he found Sakura there, receiving her own concoction.

"Naruto!" she voiced in greeting, and he waved at her.

"Hey, Sakura," he quickly ordered something from Ayame, then turned back to his friend and leaned in conspiratorially, "You'll never guess what happened..." she eyed him carefully and sipped on her cup, licking at her lip after.

"What?"

"I'm getting moved to an upperclassmen dorm," he whispered and her eyes widened.

"What? Really? Why?" Naruto laughed at her questions as Ayame slid him his coffee and he graciously thanked her and paid, turning back to Sakura.

"Cuz the school realized that money is being paid and that it's unfair to cram people into an already small ass room," he snorted and Sakura shrugged, indicating that she thought that was a fair take, "I think Kiba's kinda mad, though..."

"Tsk, he'll get over it," she waved her hand in the air and took another sip of her coffee, "So, where is it? And who with?"

"Ah, it's in the Valley at the end or something, and I don't know who with," Naruto stepped back apprehensively at her wide gaze and hesitantly asked, "...what?"

"Naruto, those dorms are like _really old_ ," she told him paling a little bit and thinking of all the college horror stories her parents told her about in terms of mold and flooding and heating and-

"Sakura, it'll be fine," Naruto laughed and grinned at her horrified expression and she just eyed him unsurely, "But I have class, I've got to go-"

"Oh, me too!" Sakura smiled at him and they started to walk away from Ichiraku, "What's yours?"

"It's Communications one-hundred," Naruto grinned sheepishly, feeling a little silly even saying the name. Did he really need a class where he learned how to communicate? He thought he did alright. Sakura pouted lightly at his side.

"Oh, I have com tomorrow, I've got english now, though, so it's probably the same building," she figured, and she was right, since they both started to head towards the humanities building. Naruto paled at the thought of english.

"Do you have Jiraiya?" he asked hesitantly and Sakura chuckled at his rigid posture and smacked his arm playfully to get him to calm down.

"No, no, I have Dr. Kurenai, she's a very sweet, well mannered woman," Sakura seemed to think about something as they both entered a building together and then leaned over, "I think Hinata has Jiraiya with Ino, though..." Naruto stopped walking and put his hands on his face in horror.

"Ohmygod, poor Hinata! Make her switch!" he reached out and grabbed Sakura's shoulders and Sakura pried his fingers off and sighed.

"I've suggested it..." she thought about something, "I'll strongly suggest it again," she concluded and then Naruto nodded resolutely and they continued up a flight of stairs and to two classes that were, by happenstance, right next to one another.

"See you on the flip-side!" Naruto called to her and she smacked the back of his head at the stupid comment before they disappeared into their respective classrooms. He looked around for faces he recognized and saw Sai at a table and decidedly sat next to him, "Hey!" he said brightly and the other blinked at him, looking up from a sketch.

"Naruto," he said. Thankfully, Sai had gotten over the stage of calling everyone 'petnames' and referred to them by their given name, and Naruto and Sai had an odd sort of friendly acquaintanceship since Naruto knew what it felt like to be on the outside and Sai had been a transfer... Naruto was just a nice guy. And sometimes Sai just tended to be too ignorant for his own good, "How are you?" Naruto shrugged and began to pull out a notebook and place it on the round table before him.

"Pretty good, how are you?" then Naruto remembered some pretty pivotal information, "I heard you live with the bas-er-I mean, Sasuke. And that you draw him. That's weird, Sai, and he'll get really angry," Naruto informed him, via the Gaara information grapevine, and Sai stared blankly at him before smiling.

"I found that out," Sai said, not elaborating, but he did continue, "and I don't live with him anymore."

"Really?" Naruto asked. Although, if they had a room full of four people and Naruto had a room of three and got reassigned it wouldn't be so far-fetched to think that at least one person in their room did, too.

"Or Gaara," Sai added as an afterthought, and Naruto raised a brow, wondering why his friend hadn't texted him about that already. A few more bodies filed in the classroom and then Naruto felt it. Sasuke's presence was like a looming cloud and turned to see him walk in and walk to an empty table adjacent to their own. Naruto had to inwardly snicker. Leave it to Sasuke to go to a communications class and sit at a table by himself. Sasuke looked up after he set his bags down and locked eyes with Naruto briefly before spotting Sai next to him and scowling. Naruto's eyes widened and he turned to his table-mate.

"What did you do?" he asked dramatically and Sai shrugged, looking back down at his sketch. Naruto looked back towards Sasuke, but the raven was pulling various items for class out of his bag and Naruto was counting them off in his head, appalled - a notebook, an agenda, a few highlighters, a couple pens, a few pencils, sticky-notes, an eraser- and then he saw the silvery haired kid from the other day plop in the seat next to the Uchiha. _Okay, not so alone, then_. Naruto scrutinized the other individual with narrowed blue eyes.

"You don't look like you like him very much," Sai observed and Naruto snapped his head over, mouth opening once to close again indignantly, then the blonde folded his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"I just don't know him," he reasoned and Sai smiled in his serene way that made Naruto's inside crawl. A professor breezed through the doorway slammed his briefcase on the desk harshly, turning to survey the classroom. He had scars traced across the length of his face, twisting on the sides, and Naruto tried not to gawk at them - not that he could say anything about scars. His were light, but they were there when the sun glinted just right. The man wore a long trench coat, arms folded, and surveyed the room with keen eyes, spotting the two tables in the back. He held out two fingers and pointed at both Sasuke and Naruto's spots sternly.

"This," he spoke roughly, and the whole class turned around to look at who the professor was pointing at, "This is a communications class; this won't do. Move," he ordered and when they all either blinked or stared blankly at him he frowned, "together," he elaborated, bringing his two fingers together to symbolize the merging of their half-full tables. Naruto looked and Sasuke and Sasuke looked at Naruto and then they glared at each other, as if daring the other to show weakness and move first, "Oh-ho-ho, alright, I already see some work that has to be done. You," he pointed to Naruto, "and you," he pointed to Sai, "over there," he ordered and Naruto begrudgingly gathered his things and sulked his way to the seat by Sasuke while Sai sat across from the Uchiha and next to Sugietsu. Sasuke wasn't sure whether to smirk at Naruto or glower at Sai, "Congratulations, those whom you are sitting with at your table are your team members for the semester!" the professor announced and Naruto's jaw hung as he snapped his head towards the front of the room. He was going to be working with two of the most socially challenged people he knew. In a communications class. He was fucked.

"Ha, well shit," the silvery haired guy muttered across from him and Naruto had to agree.

"My name is Ibiki Morino and I am your professor for your Introduction to Interpersonal and Group Communications class, otherwise fondly known as: Com one-hundred," he spoke fluidly and turned on the projector to show a syllabus, "I expect you all to look over the syllabus and understand the expectations. It's both available online and in paper form, being passed around the room as we speak. Now, let me stress that this a communications class, so I expect you to be vocal. As such, let's jump right in," Naruto absently grabbed the syllabus that Sai handed to him and roughly slid the last two towards Sasuke without looking at him, eyes still glued on Ibiki. _What, we aren't going over the syllabus?_ "I want you to spend the next, let's say, about twenty minutes - so that's five each - talking to your table mates. By the end of your discussion, I want each of you to be able to stand up and say something about each table mate, and it must be something different than what someone else has previously said. And no crap like, 'he's a freshman that lives in xyz building and we are both in a communications class together', okay? Look for substance. Have at it," Ibiki nodded at them then sat at his desk and proceeded to sort through files. Naruto breathed in deeply through his nose and closed his eyes. Well, this is going to be extremely awkward... at least the only one I don't know and really have to talk to is...?

"Who are you?" Naruto suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the guy across from him who blinked at the abrupt question.

"Shit, maybe you need this class," he spoke and Naruto scowled at him, "Suigetsu Hozuki," the guy sneered and Naruto noticed that his teeth were a tad sharper than what would be considered average. Suigetsu cleared his throat and gestured between Naruto and Sasuke, "You two are already clearly acquainted, so glad we don't have to have that awkward conversation," Naruto nearly growled in annoyance and heard Sasuke sigh beside him, but still didn't look over.

"You are?" Sai's voice piped from the side and Naruto glanced over. Oh yeah, he didn't know.

"Eh, yeah..." was all Naruto said and he felt Sasuke's eyes burning into him from the side, making him shift uncomfortably. Suigetsu watched Sasuke calculate Naruto with a curious expression and felt a mischievous smile pulling at him.

"I didn't know that," Sai continued and Naruto started feeling really, really antsy.

"Ehm, yeah..." Naruto replied weakly, still refraining from looking to Sasuke's burning gaze, for fear it might erode through him.

"How do you-" Naruto felt Sasuke's eyes move from the back of his head, but feared they landed somewhere worse: Sai's face.

"It was before you were around," Sasuke said coldly and Sai blinked at him, then smiled.

"I see," was all he responded with, and that when Naruto found it appropriate to spin around.

"Don't be such a bastard about it!" Naruto spat quietly, eyes narrowed, unaware of how entertained Suigetsu was across the table. Sasuke gaze at Naruto blankly and tilted his head, a small smirk playing at his lips.

"About what, exactly?" Sasuke asked smoothly and Naruto found he couldn't reply and chose to glare at the other instead, hoping to get his point across.

"God, what are you two?" Suigetsu chuckled and grinned widely, highly amused, but the look faded when Sasuke sent him an icy look, "Eh, okay, anyway, Naruto, let's not fail our first assignment," he leaned forward dramatically, "tell me about yourself," Naruto tore his eyes from his long-lost best friend and apprehensively sighed.

"Yeah, okay, I, uh, I love ramen," he saw Sasuke roll his eyes and Suigetsu waved his hand dismissively.

"Gimme something meatier," he said and Naruto huffed, folding his arms defiantly.

"Fine! I volunteer for my old grade school teacher Iruka sometimes; help the kids out," Suigetsu nodded, but rolled his hand, indicating his expectation for more, "Ugh," Naruto complained in a slump, "Alright, I, uh... let's see... I believe!" Naruto felt three pairs of eyes on him and Suigetsu looked more than a little confused before Sasuke bubbled out in laughter. The answer had been so utterly Naruto, sounding so hopelessly stupid, but Sasuke grasped it. Naruto had hope. In a better tomorrow. It was almost poetic. In the most remedial of ways, of course.

"I... don't quite understand," Sai admitted quietly, leaning forward and Suigetsu nodded while staring unabashed at the laughing man that he had really never seen laugh much before, and if he had it had been in disdain, typically. Naruto looked only slightly uncomfortable with himself, but turned towards Sasuke who was holding his own side, which must've had a stitch, and trying to stop the pops of laughter that kept emerging. Naruto raised a brow. Sasuke had always been a little off his rocker, but the guy was kind of loosing it. When water started to form in the corner of Sasuke's eyes he looked down trying to hide it with a shaky curse intermixed with chuckles and Naruto couldn't help the smile that spread on his face. It'd been a long time since he heard Sasuke crack up in laughter like that. It was-

"What the flying fuck!?" Suigetsu sputtered, leaning across the table with intrigue, trying to glimpse the usually stoic man who was trying to shield his face under his bangs. Naruto felt a hard punch to his gut and doubled over, nearly smacking his forehead on Sasuke's.

"Naruto, you're such a fucking loser," Sasuke managed, only a small tinge of laughter in his voice now and the two shared a glance as they attempted to sit up straight again. And that was just how they communicated. Naruto knew that Sasuke knew what Naruto meant, and respected it, and Sasuke knew that Naruto accepted his reaction as a 'shit, I actually kind of missed your rash optimism'. Naruto folded his arms while Sasuke wiped a stray tear and stoned his face and they found Sai's blank face and Suigetsu's completely flabbergasted one staring back at them.

"...What...?" Naruto asked, a little weirded out by their eyes.

"I don't... I don't understand..." Suigetsu stated, blinking and leaning back to sit in his seat, "Like... _fuck_ , what?" his eyes darted to Sasuke who stared blankly at him. Naruto had half a mind to ask if Sasuke never laughed at Otogakure, but, honestly, he wouldn't even be surprised if the answer was no. So, he frowned, and decided to move the attention.

"Hey, I have to ask you questions," Naruto reminded Suigetsu and the other absently nodded.

"Heh, yeah, so, I love history," he said, then his eyes lit up and Naruto felt accomplished in moving the topic, "I have a collection of samurai swords and they are amazing; beautiful in every way. Yeah, otherwise I kinda dig cats... especially the scroungy ones that dig in the trash for their food and shit, cuz like, hell yeah, take that independence and run with it, you know?" he finished and Naruto blinked at him.

"Er, yeah, okay," he grinned apprehensively then Suigetsu turned to Sai.

"I have no fucking clue who you are," he said and Sai smiled.

"Sai Chubu," he offered and Naruto got the distinct impression that getting information from Sai was going to be like pulling teeth. Sai blinked ask if realizing Suigetsu was expecting more, "Oh. I'm and artist-" Suigetsu mumbled something like 'of course you are', "-and I enjoy observing and learning about people and the world around me; communication is an interesting topic, actually," at this, his eyes shifted back to Sasuke and Naruto and Suigetsu followed the movement with his own, then wrinkled his nose.

"You guys really don't have to talk, after all this time?" Suigetsu questioned and Naruto turned to Sasuke as the other did likewise. They looked over each other once and then shrugged, "Oh, come o~n!" Suigetsu said in a defeated tone and Naruto snorted and roughly placed an elbow on the table to rest the side of his face in his palm while he stared at Sasuke and the Uchiha gazed at him, unmoved.

"Alright then," Naruto muttered under his breath, this friend of Sasuke's was annoying him, "bastard," he said unusually cordial for the word.

"Moron," Sasuke replied as if it were a casual greeting and Naruto could swear he heard Suigetsu grumble obscenities.

"Anything you wanna talk about?" Naruto asked blandly, already knowing the answer. _This dumbass..._ he thought, directing the thought at Suigestu.

"No," Sasuke said predictably and Naruto raised his elbow and looked at Suigetsu with an unamused look.

"This isn't... normal, is it?" Sai asked carefully, and before Naruto could speak Suigetsu piped up.

"No, it's definitely fucking not normal, kid," he said and shook his head, leaning back in the chair and trying to wrap his head around the enigma that was Naruto and Sasuke. He understood the stoic, driven, goal-oriented Sasuke he had come to know, but who was this guy beside him that held a history and a... humor. It was almost like Suigetsu felt like there was an object shining in the light and he finally identified what it was, only to have the light illuminate it further and find out that the object is far more complex than he thought. _Tch, figures..._

"Alright!" Ibiki's voice boomed from the front of the room, "Time's up, let's go!" they started at the front of the room and slowly worked their way back. Sai was the first to stand at their table and he graciously smiled at the professor who simply stared back at him, arms folded.

"Hello! My name is Sai Chubu and these are my table mates Suigetsu Hozuki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki," he gestured to them each individually, then turned back to Suigetsu, "Suigetsu is easily surprised and also very confident," the boy quirked a brow at the comment, noting that he hadn't told him anything like that, "Sasuke has a difficult time sleeping, and is very stand-offish," Sasuke glared at the comment and Naruto glanced at Sasuke - he still couldn't sleep? "Naruto is very loud and boisterous, but also very kind and open to people," Sai concluded and sat down.

"Interesting," Ibiki commented, "I'll assume not all this communication was verbal?"

"You'd assume correctly, sir," Sai said with a smile, then Ibiki nodded and waved for Suigetsu to continue.

"Right, so I'm Suigetsu," he said as he stood, "Sai here is an artist, and lacks a filter," he noted out loud, but the students watching were too enthralled in the odd table to even snicker, "Sasuke has actually done some substantial work over his summers with a non-profit; yeah, go him - so have I," now that Naruto did raise a brow at, Sasuke worked with Akatsuki? "and Naruto here..." Naruto looked up at Suigetsu's pause; hadn't he said enough? The look that the guy gave him was unnerving, "He's one of a kind, I guess. He's kind of childish, which is probably why he gets along with the children he volunteers with for an old teacher of his, so..." Suigetsu sat down and Ibiki eyed him and nodded. Sasuke stood silently.

"Sai is an observer, but he lacks a proper knowledge of boundaries as well as tries to learn by imitation. Suigetsu is blunt and at times uncouth, but he can be extremely insightful into things that he cares about. Naruto is," a part of him had to fight really hard to not say 'a believer', "an extremely dedicated and devoted person," he finished and Naruto watched him sit, ignoring whatever response Ibiki had. So he had noticed him chasing him around the world at the martial arts tournament, then? Naruto stood.

"Hey, I'm Naruto!" he waved to the class with a grin and found a few faces smiling back at him, "So, Sai means well with most everything he does and really is a phenomenal artist - I encourage you to ask him about it," Sai offered Naruto a smile, and this time it reached a little higher, "Suigetsu is a pretty genuine guy - I think - and he's got a thing for stray cats cuz he respects their independence, which is pretty alright, liking animals is never a bad thing," Suigetsu offered an amused smirk and scoffed, then Naruto turned to Sasuke, "Sasuke is... the most passionate person I know. He'll change the world one day, I know it," Naruto grinned and sat down and Ibiki eyed him with a small smirk. He was the only one of the four that was purposely kind, and he stood out for it. Some idiot student decided that it that then that they should speak out.

"Aren't passionate and devoted the same thing?"

"No," Ibiki answered with a smirk, looking at his back most, and by far most interesting table, "They are most assuredly very distinct characteristics."

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 _Author's Note: Hello! So this weekend is Halloween and going to be a bit busy, so this is coming out early! (I wish I was a little further into it and could post a *special Halloween chapter*, but unfortunately we are most definitely not at the holidays yet!) Till next time~!_


	6. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Naruto_** **and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and written purely for entertainment.**...Enjoy!

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 _Chapter Five: there is no better mirror than an old friend_

"Hey, Naruto, I met-" Sakura was coming through the doorway of her classroom when she saw his blonde hair emerge from his own, then a set of dark locks followed his.

"Hello, Sakura," the other spoke with a serene smile and she paused her speech and lifted a limp hand to wave at him shortly.

"Oh, hi, Sai. How are you?" she asked cordially. She didn't hate him. She didn't adore him. He did, after all, call he ugly in high school when he met her. Naruto looked edgy for some reason, eyes darting around, and she offered him an odd, scrutinizing gaze as Sai waved back at her.

"I'm confused," he answered and Sakura deadpanned, sidestepping out of the way when a few students tried to get around her, out of the classroom that she was semi-blocking. Between the action of having to move, Sai's weird response, and Naruto's increasingly jittery behavior - was he trying to point back inside his classroom? - she became a little flustered and shrugged her bag closer to her body as she tilt her head at the boys.

"Excuse me?" she fought the odd urge to punch one of them while Sai continued to smile and Naruto made a squeaky noise and awkwardly moved in front of the doorframe of his own classroom, "Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked confusedly, a little at a loss as the blonde began to look desperate.

"Hey, Sakura, let's go to Ichiraku!" he suggested in a rush, an anxious grin on his features and Sakura's eyes narrowed, realizing that he was hiding something. She was about to open her mouth to voice her suspicions when Karin sauntered out of the english classroom, eyes going wide upon noticing Naruto.

"Oh, you," the red head spoke a little apprehensively and Naruto's face went blank. Sakura couldn't help but think that it looked like a machine had broken, program in overdrive and just shut down. Suddenly, there was a hand pressed against Naruto's back, between his shoulder blades, and it shoved him forward roughly, a lean, pale arm following.

"Moron, what are you doing?" _Oh, I didn't expect that..._ she thought, knowing exactly who that baritone statement belonged to, watching as Sasuke stepped out behind Naruto with another male behind him. Naruto looked defeated, and sent an apologetic look towards Sakura, which she was genuinely confused by. Did he still think she was infatuated with Sasuke? She cared about him, yes, but she didn't want to marry him in a fairytale wedding anymore...

"This kid, blocking the doorway, what are you doing?" Suigetsu scoffed, widening his eyes at Naruto accusingly and the blonde snapped his head to him.

"Shut up, Suigetsu," Naruto grumbled with a glare, then shifted his eyes to Sasuke who was looking at him blankly, then he watched those onyx eyes shift to Sakura and Naruto panicked.

"Hey, bastard, I was busy!" he shouted, and Sasuke raised a brow, eyes shifting back, "you interrupted me!" and then he felt Sakura's elbow poke roughly into his gut and doubled over, looking at her betrayed. The look she gave him reminded him of what he saw when mothers would scold their children at the grocery stores and he sucked in a harsh breath.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, smacking the back of his head, "So impolite!" her fists came to rest at her hips and she looked up, focusing on Sasuke who was silently looking back at her, "Hello again, Sasuke," she spoke politely - and very carefully, Naruto noted as he stood up straight, "I'm glad to see you're well," her words were calculated and distant and... it made Naruto's heart hurt to see his friends this way. A frown etched on his face and he ignored the concerned look that Karin gave him and the curious look that Suigetsu gave Sakura. He felt Sai's eyes eating up the whole scene behind him, but his focus was on two of the most important people in his life in front of him, looking so desperately estranged. The clenching in his heart grew as Sasuke just stared down at Sakura - _god, say something, bastard!_ \- and then he finally nodded at her.

"Hello, Sakura," he said cordially and Naruto stopped breathing, blue orbs quickly shifting to Sakura's face to evaluate any minuscule reaction she might have. She blinked once, as if readjusting to her name on his lips, and then smiled a small, unassuming curve of her lips.

"I hope I don't have any bruises I need to tend to?" she gestured to Naruto and Sasuke smirked, only a little, and Naruto made an indignant noise between them.

"He's the one that tried to punch me," Sasuke offered and Sakura sighed, looking tiredly at the blonde.

"Yeah, he said that..."

Naruto looked between them; Sakura's annoyed yet fond gaze was towards himself and Sasuke's marginally amused eyes were on his cerulean ones. And he couldn't help but laugh. The clench in his chest became a swell and he felt a warmth spread from it, and he felt happy, allowing himself a moment to pretend that nothing had changed and that everything was at it had been, when it felt like it was them against the world.

"God you guys..." as he laughed he felt it become a little painful and realized that he had to reign his emotions in before he started to address things that he had learned to suppress. Naruto closed his eyes for a short moment and then grinned widely, but when he looked up he noticed Sasuke frowning at him. He always was a little too perceptive when it came to Naruto, "This is weird..."

"Yeah, I agree, stop with the reunions," Suigetsu muttered beside Sasuke and Karin smacked him harshly on the arm, the sound resonating in the now empty hallway.

"You're so rude!" she seethed, then latched her hands on Sasuke's arm and looked accusingly at Suigetsu, "This has got to be hard on him, coming back to here after forever, don't be so thoughtless!" Sakura and Naruto's eyes zeroed in on where Karin's attached to Sasuke's long dark sleeve, a little awe struck at the contact, then they looked at each other, sharing their confusion, then to Sasuke's face which was extraordinarily passive. In fact, he didn't even look like he _felt_ it. Suigetsu waved his hands out in a wide gesture and sighed dramatically while Sai simply stayed observing silently.

"Karin, I doubt he wants you leeching on him, they're gonna think you're, like, his girlfriend or something," Suigetsu spoke mischievously, trying to inconspicuously watch reactions to his words. Instead, all he got were a few blank stares and a very flushed Karin who almost looked to squeeze Sasuke's arm tighter.

"W-what? Well, I mean..." Suigetsu rolled his eyes at her purposeful avoidance of answering wether she was or wasn't. Sasuke finally looked down at her and shook his arm a bit.

"Karin," the way he said her name was an order and she let go with a resigned motion, stepping back and looking to the side stubbornly.

"You have..." Naruto started, and Suigetsu grinned, excited for the outcome of the drama he just caused, assuming that they thought he had a girlfriend now, "... fangirls everywhere..." Naruto finished, astounded. Beside him, Sakura sighed in agreement, like it was inevitable, and shook her head. _What? What? This isn't what I wanted!_ Suigetsu thought desperately, trying to backtrack, "Why? I don't get it! You're _pretty_ , you're not even handsome!" Naruto continued to rant and Sakura's eyes went wide as she stifled a laugh when Sasuke actually managed to turn a smidgen more pink after that comment, looking a bit taken aback, "I mean, _I'm_ handsome and I-"

"No, Naruto," Sakura couldn't help it, she cut him off, "You're cute, not handsome," he looked at her, unsure wether to be offended or not, and Suigetsu cleared his throat, in a sour mood since his scheme fell flat.

"So, as adorable as this is, we have to get settled in our dorm now," he grumbled gesturing to himself and Sasuke, then shrunk back at the Uchiha's stony gaze. Yet, Sasuke nodded and began to turn, sans parting words, until Naruto reached out for his shoulder, missing it, but Sasuke turned anyway.

"Where'd you move to?" he asked, curiosity winning over respecting Sasuke's space. Hadn't he done that long enough anyway? Sakura cast an odd look at Naruto and noticed that Karin did something similar to Sasuke.

"Another dorm," was all the raven said, then turned to leave again, Suigetsu following him.

"Ugh, fine," Naruto snorted at their backs, then turned to the remaining three, "Karin, seriously, why do you hangout with that bastard, hangout with me instead!" he repeated his words from the previous day and she rolled her eyes behind her red-rimmed glasses, pushing them up by the middle.

"I have a feeling that I'll see you anyway," she muttered under her breath, and Sakura chuckled beside her in agreement.

"Highly likely," she told her, then seemed to remember something, "Naruto, what I was going to tell you was that I met Karin in my english course!" Naruto grinned, looking between the two.

"Ah, weird, you guys are going to be friends now, aren't you?" he asked and they shrugged lightly. Karin blinked and looked at Sai who blinked back at her.

"I'm really sorry... but I'm not sure who you are?" she said and Naruto cursed. Why could Sai be so quiet?

"I'm Sai," the male offered with a smile and Karin made a face, but quickly apologized. Naruto got the feeling that she knew about Sai's odd fascination with drawing Sasuke.

"Hey, hey, let's go to Ichiraku!" Naruto suggested, and having nothing else to do, the others agreed.

* * *

Naruto had stopped by his dorm with Kiba and Shino, disappointed to find it empty, to grab a few bags before heading to his new dorm in the Valley. He'd tried to text Gaara to ask about his dorm move, but hadn't managed to get a response yet. The visit he had with Sakura, Karin and Sai at Ichiraku's had been pleasant and they had purposely stayed away from any controversial topics, instead focusing on things like their classes or random tidbits. It had been nice, actually. He found out something interesting: Karin and her mother had moved to Sound Country when she was very young, so she didn't remember Uzugakure either. Which was unfortunate. Since it had been devastated by war shortly after Naruto was born - hence her move. He didn't want to think about that, though.

Naruto hoisted a bag over his shoulder and carried another in his hand, then, deciding that maybe to spare himself Kiba's anger today, he grabbed his pillow and stuffed it on the bag with a blanket draped over his shoulders.

He looked ridiculous. He didn't care.

Naruto finagled his way out of the room with his bundle of stuff and hobbled through the hall and down the stairs, ignoring the stares he got as he slumped across the courtyard and over to the residential collection of structures on the far other side. There was a fancy looking old gate at the front that boasted the name 'The Valley' with two large statues flanking it at each end and Naruto raised his brow at how truly ancient the place looked. In fact, it looked older than the campus, itself. Shrugging it off, but careful not to lose his blanket, he stumbled through the oddly quiet, long row of old stone buildings and reached the one at the very end, huffing and puffing.

"Foundation Hall," he grumbled, trying to figure out how he was going to get inside the decrepit looking three story building. Okay, not, like, about to crumble, but really, _really_ old. Sakura was right. His pillow was slipping, his blanket was falling, his bags were heavy, and he was trying to contort his body to fish out his student ID when the door to the lobby swung open.

"Naruto!" Gaara spoke, surprised, and Naruto looked up just as his blanket slid to the ground, _dammit_.

"Gaara!" he said happily, then he tried his best to look menacing while awkwardly juggling his wares to grab the fallen cloth, "You've been avoiding me!" he accused, grabbing the blanket and yanking it upwards a little harsher than necessary while Gaara saved the pillow that was slipping dangerously off his bag.

"Ah," Gaara started, kneading into the pillow and holding the door open behind him before it shut, "here, let me help you," Naruto was about to interrogate him further, but then heartily shoved the heavier bag towards the other and sniffed, strutting past him and into the lobby.

"That's the least you could do," Naruto mumbled, glancing around the room, letting his eyes linger on the furniture that looked like it belonged in a haunted house. A grimace overcame him and he shook his head, _haunted, pshhh..._ yet a chill ran up his spine anyway. How old was this place...?

"Were you moved here?" Gaara caught up to him from the door, hauling the bag and pillow along with him. Their footsteps echoed in the empty lobby.

"Yeah..." Naruto realized his voice was quiet and cleared his throat, "Yeah, I'm in 212A," he said and he heard Gaara stop walking so he glanced backwards. Gaara was looking at him with a shocked expression, which was irregular, so Naruto turned around fully, "...what?" Gaara chuckled lightly and then offered a small smile.

"You're my roommate."

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed loudly, nearly dropping his bag, a large grin settling on his features, "No way! That's awesome!" the blonde laughed and forgot that he was angry at Gaara for not responding to him, "Well, show me the way roomie!" Gaara regarded him with a smile a moment longer, and then nodded and proceeded to walk ahead of him - the opposite direction of where Naruto had been headed, he noted - and they traipsed down a long, narrow hallway with subpar lighting until they reached a stairwell at the end. Naruto felt a tension in the air and cleared his throat as they stepped onto the second landing, "Gaara, why are you so quiet?"

"Aren't I always quiet?" Gaara asked and Naruto had a mind shattering deduction, causing him to pause and stare at the back of the other male's head, the plate dictating their room number in his distant peripheral.

"Oh my god, you're hiding something," Naruto whispered, leaning forwards and almost falling over himself under the combined weight of his bag and himself. Gaara took a long moment to turn, but when he did he looked apprehensive.

"Naruto there's something you should know..."

"Well, fuck, there's always something I should know with you!" Naruto said exasperated, and Gaara sighed, about to answer, but yet again interrupted when the most integral information was about to come out. The door to their room swung open behind them and Suigetsu popped his head out, causing Gaara to turn and Naruto to blink at him rapidly.

"These walls are so fucking thin," he grumbled, then addressed the two in the hall, "Can everything stop being so dramatic here? Naruto, welcome to hell freezing over; you're living with Sasuke," he spoke with a bland look and then turned around and darted back into the common room, the other two missing the wide, amused smile on his face.

"I... uh... what...?" Naruto questioned, trying to get his brain to function. Living with Sasuke? But Gaara was his roommate. Though, this was an upperclassmen dorm. There was a common room. And another double. All connected. _Oh, shit._

"Come on," Gaara spoke softly, as if encouraging a stray animal to follow him and Naruto nodded weakly, his blanket halfway hanging off his shoulder and dragging on the floor of the hallway behind him. Naruto stepped foot inside the common room and the door slammed after him, making him jump.

"It does that," Suigetsu piped from his spot lounged on a couch in the small area between the two dorm rooms. To the right of the door was an area with a few counters and cabinets, a small fridge huddled in a corner with a microwave on top of it, and then to the left was a bathroom door that was currently shut with the shower water running. It took Naruto a moment to realize that it was Sasuke who must've been in there right then. He didn't even realize that he was staring at the door until Gaara cleared his throat and Suigetsu chuckled, "Seriously, what's up with you guys? It must be some shit, cuz all I remember is you guys beating the shit out of each other. I thought ya hated each other," he idly peeled an orange in his hand as he spoke, only glancing up deviantly at the end. Gaara stayed silent, either out of intelligence or out of a loss of what to say, and Naruto frowned at Suigetsu and grabbed at his dragging blanket, bringing up and unconsciously wrapping it further around himself. He really didn't even want to dignify a response - it wasn't Suigetsu's business - and he didn't have to as the water cut off in the bathroom and he stood frozen in place, head rigidly turning to the bathroom door. He heard the sound of something sliding, and then it was only a few more moments before the door swung open, plumes of steam wafting out in it's wake.

There stood Sasuke, dripping with shower water and a towel slung loosely around his waist, his eyes were closed as he had a smaller towel in his hand, rubbing it through his hair, then his dark irises revealed themselves. The first thing Sasuke saw were a pair of ratty dark hiking boots in the small space in front of the doorway, then his eyes traveled up to see familiar track pants attached to torso with a green shirt with a red spiral supporting a bag and a blanket to a frozen face that sported wide, blue eyes and a jaw slightly ajar, blonde hair a wild mop on top. Sasuke stared at him for maybe a good ten seconds, letting all the information sink in, while Naruto slowly closed his mouth and began to look more indignant by the second. Then he slammed the door shut again.

Suigetsu burst out laughing and Naruto began to bang on the door, having abandoned his bag on the discolored tile. Gaara sighed and walked forward to grab the forgotten bag, bringing it and what he already had into their shared room and then coming back out, leaning on the corner of the wall tiredly.

"Hey, bastard, you can't just avoid me!" Naruto continued to bang on the door, knowing he looked like an idiot on the outside, but internally he was nearly having a conniption. _This is not okay. This will not be okay. We aren't okay to live together. I don't want to be alone. I hate that he's-. Fuck, this is not okay._

"I don't get it, you guys seem fine enough, what's the problem?" Suigetsu asked, though near the end he realized it was on deaf ears as Naruto was preoccupied and looked towards Gaara instead. Truthfully, Gaara didn't know everything, and he stared blankly back at the other, then directed his eyes back to Naruto who looked more desperate with each bang of his fist.

"Dammit, bastard, you can't just-" Naruto's voice cracked lightly at the end and he hated that people were watching him - _why are you putting me through this, Sasuke?_ \- he wrapped a little harder on the door and rested his forehead on part of it, speaking a little quieter, "-you can't just block me out, again..." all the hurt that he felt and that he had bottled, he felt it welling up again and he really, deeply disliked that he had an audience and did his best to hold composure.

Inside the bathroom, Sasuke was standing in the middle with steam swirling around him, arms wrapped around himself. He really wasn't prepared to live with Naruto. There were too many bonds there; too many memories; too much guilt. He heard the pounding and he twitched with every land of a fist. He had steeled himself to come back to Konoha. Somehow, he had found enough peace to do that. And he could play a part; that wasn't a problem. But Naruto knew him. If he lived with him... Sasuke turned to the side and looked at his hazy reflection in the mirror, feeling that it was somehow accurate. Then he heard Naruto's voice crack outside. And he told him that he couldn't block him out again. And Sasuke was hurting him, irreparably, again. _Fuck_.

Without thinking, Sasuke lunged forwards and yanked the door open again, causing Naruto to stumble in and almost trip over his blanket. Suigetsu's voice drifted in, but Sasuke ignored it and slammed the door shut once more, locking it behind him. Naruto was looking down at his feet, standing where Sasuke had been moments before. Sasuke stared at Naruto for a long moment and when the blonde finally looked up his face was cold and Sasuke knew what was coming. Slowly, Naruto's composure cracked and a few stray tears escaped the corners of his eyes as he stared resolutely at Sasuke, refusing to break eye contact. Sasuke just stayed where he was, unmoving.

"You look broken," Naruto told him, voice scratchy, and Sasuke didn't respond, instead choosing to allow himself to slide down and sit on the floor. He didn't doubt he looked broken. He was broken. Worse, he was maimed; jaded. Naruto followed his movement and sat on the ground across from him, wrapping the blanket around him like a barrier. They stared at each other over the short distance for a long while until Naruto decided to speak up again, "How did we end up here?" he was picking at the ends of the frayed cloth, mentally comparing their pair now to their younger doubles. Sasuke looked down and off to the side.

"That might be my fault."

"No, I don't think so," Naruto said and Sasuke looked up sharply, "I couldn't-"

"Oh god, stop," Sasuke sighed dramatically and Naruto's eyes widened, "It's not yours," Naruto furrowed his brows at him and Sasuke laughed mirthfully, "Fuck, Naruto, you..." Sasuke paused to collect himself and looked away again.

"I'm still your best friend, right?" Naruto asked quietly, sounding all too much like a twelve year old kid again. Sasuke let his eyes travel back to the blonde, the fact that he looked like a wrapped up marsh mellow not escaping him, and scoffed.

"...Yeah," he said and Naruto grinned, then they fell into a silence again for a long period of time.

"Hey, Sasuke?" the man in question looked up into cerulean eyes at the blonde's tentative voice.

"What?" Naruto stared at him, looking older than her should, and then sighed.

"This is going to be hard, isn't it?" he asked and Sasuke looked back at the mirror where their reflections were a little clearer, but still muted and blurred.

"Probably," he admit and Naruto sighed again.

"Hey, Sasuke?" this time the raven just raised a questioning brow, so Naruto continued, pulling the blanket tighter, "Can we just stay in here for a while?" he really didn't want to return to reality yet. It could be too... real, sometimes.

"That was the plan," Sasuke told him, but shuddered as never properly drying off began to take it's toll. Naruto seemed to notice and opened his blanket like it were wings.

"Come'ere!" Naruto snickered as Sasuke gave him a deeply unamused look and shuffled further away.

"Get away from me," his voice came out in a growl and Naruto's eyes gained a devious glint as he raised up from the ground a bit and flapped the blanket a little, the moist air having made it a little soggy resorting in an awkward slap of a noise.

"But, bastard!" Naruto play whined, snickering all the while as Sasuke scuttled backwards on the floor, eyeing the blanket with disdain.

"Come near me, I'll hurt you," he said firmly and Naruto stood up fully, snorting.

"Like you could," the blonde spoke confidently and when Sasuke scowled at him he threw the blanket over his head and it toppled onto Sasuke, who cursed and quickly tried to kick it off. Naruto lunged forwards and held the four corners down with each of his extremities with a triumphant grin, Sasuke submerged under the white abyss, "Try that, bastard!"

"I'll tare it," Sasuke spoke darkly and Naruto squeaked, instantly letting up on one of his hands and yanking a corner down to glare at Sasuke's face, appalled.

"You wouldn't," the raven raised a challenging brow and Naruto sucked in a breath. It was his only blanket. Then a bright, brilliant, amazing idea was bestowed upon him. Naruto let his body drop on top of Sasuke and the raven let out a loud _oof!_ as the wind was knocked out of him. Naruto put an elbow beside Sasuke's head and rested his cheek on his fist, looking down triumphantly while Sasuke heaved in a few large breaths.

"You fucking moron," Sasuke wheezed, trying to buck upwards to get the blonde off of him, but Naruto pushed his weight back down and the raven glared up at him. There was a scuffle of noises at they struggled with each other's weight, but since Naruto had the original advantage he maintained his position and Sasuke was a little hesitant to move too expressively because, honestly, all he had on was a towel. Sasuke tried one more time with a harsh jerk upwards, and it was just enough for Naruto to slip on either the slick floor or the blanket and he lost enough of his balance for Sasuke to wriggle upwards to a half sitting position. Naruto whined at his loss in their battle and clamored to keep hold, hands flailing, pulling at the blanket and it ripped down Sasuke's torso, causing Naruto to fall forward with his face slamming into Sasuke's neck and his other hand grasping for purchase and finding it uncomfortably high on the other's thigh. In the movement, Sasuke's body was forced back into the wall and his arms came up, one landing on the adjacent wall while the other, instinctively, threaded into Naruto's hair to keep his head from bouncing on the tiled wall behind them.

There was a long, awkward pause where neither of them moved.

"Hey, uh, guys?" Suigetsu's voice broke through the door, a small knock following, "Please don't, like, break anything...?"

Sasuke felt Naruto's breath fanning across his neck and collarbone, and then all at once the blonde's body crumpled inwards. Naruto felt Sasuke there, under his grip, and he felt safe. And he felt like Sasuke was safe. Because he was there. He was tangibly, physically there with him. Not on the other side of the world tearing himself apart inside. At least now if Sasuke were to fall apart, Naruto could be there to put the pieces back together. _And at least now... now I can fall apart_ , his mind sighed, _because he'll be here to pick up my pieces_. Sasuke felt wet droplets roll down from the crook of his neck silently, and they felt warm and fresh. He drew his mouth in a line and lay his head on the back of the wall, looking upwards at the ceiling forlornly, fingers still tangled in the blonde mop by his face and pulling Naruto's head closer till his forehead met Sasuke's neck. Then he could fully feel the silent sobs that wracked the blonde's body, and he felt a wet trail weave a path down his own face. Naruto's hand gripped Sasuke's thigh harder and Sasuke moved his free hand to slide it through his still damp locks in an anxious movement.

"It's like, reeeally quiet in there, and I'm a little worried-" Suigetsu's voice started and Sasuke growled, not noticing as he crushed Naruto's forehead further towards his shoulder.

"Go the _fuck_ away!" Sasuke hissed loudly, becoming slightly more aware of how thin the walls actually were. Naruto relinquished his grip on Sasuke's thigh and his hand came up to pat lightly at the other's chest, causing Sasuke to let go of the blonde's hair and look at him as he leaned away with a watery grin.

"It's okay, it-" and Sasuke punched Naruto halfway through whatever he was saying, causing the other to fly to the side and put his elbow out just in time to avoid his head from smacking on the wall, though there was still another loud bang. Naruto put his palm up to his upper left cheek, already feeling a bruise forming under his eye.

"It's not fucking okay," Sasuke looked at him coldly, arms now hanging limply at his sides, "If you need to fucking cry, then fucking bawl, loser, cuz you probably haven't in years, have you?" although, as he was saying this, he felt more wetness leak from his own eyes but he ignored it, "Don't give me that shit grin and tell me it's fine, fuck you, Naruto," despite himself, he sniffed and felt a quiet sob emerge from his throat, "It's not fucking okay-" and then he felt a fist slam into his own face and there was another resonating bam in the bathroom as Sasuke smacked his hand on the wall to stabilize his body. He glared at Naruto who was still nursing the punch Sasuke had thrown with his own hand.

"You're face gets red and splotchy when you cry," Naruto whispered with an angry frown and Sasuke brought a hand to his head which was beginning to hurt from all the violence and godforsaken emotion.

"You have snot running from your nose," Sasuke countered icily and Naruto sniffled roughly, to which Sasuke grimaced at and kicked his foot at Naruto's chest, making him fall backwards. After Naruto hit the ground, he grabbed Sasuke's foot in his hand and held on for dear life, staring at the ceiling light that was now fully clear of steam, and Sasuke didn't shake him off.

"What's wrong with us...?" Naruto asked quietly and Sasuke laughed bitterly.

The door was suddenly busted open - guess it's not that hard to pick an ancient lock - and Suigetsu slid into the bathroom with a questionable expression before he looked at the boys on the floor with a deeply baffled look. The vision before him was not what he expected to see. Gaara quietly shuffled in behind him. Neither Sasuke or Naruto bothered to look at the other two, didn't even flinch at the door, until finally Naruto cracked a grin and let out a kind of crazed laugh, putting the crook of his arm over his eyes and sniffing loudly.

"Hey bastard, are they really standing there?" he asked and Sasuke closed his eyes while Suigetsu and Gaara shared and unsure look.

"Yeah," Sasuke said vaguely, then lulled his head to the side, looking at Suigetsu then pointedly at the door, "You're paying for that lock," he told him dully, then rolled his head back to angle his eyes towards the ceiling, giving a weak sniff of his own. Suigetsu and Gaara surveyed the damage. The blanket to the side of Sasuke was slightly torn but not in bad shape and otherwise nothing in the bathroom was broken, but then they re-evaluated that. No, something in the bathroom was definitely broken. It was definitely the two individuals on the ground. And it had nothing to do with their matching black eyes. Gaara didn't know either of them well enough, but it made him uncomfortable to see the two look so emotionally raw. Suigetsu, on the other hand, had spent four years with Sasuke... and was thinking that it was more like spending four years with Sasuke's statue, because before him was a living, breathing, feeling organism, and it honestly scared him.

"Sakura's going to hurt us," Naruto said, muffled under his arm, and Sasuke snorted.

"She'll hurt you," he amended, but Naruto's grin was visible beneath his arm - did he have a bloody lip?

"No, she likes me now; she'll hurt you, too," Naruto claimed and Sasuke closed his eyes and smiled morosely at the ceiling. Suigetsu and Gaara stared on the scene, unsure of what to do, but fully aware that if this was anything like what was supposed to be typical between Naruto and Sasuke on any given day... their dorm would be obliterated in a week.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Oh my... they live together :3 ... didn't Kiba say something about that being disastrous? hmm. R &R!_


	7. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Naruto_** **and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and written purely for entertainment.**...Enjoy!

* * *

 _Chapter Six: leave tomorrow till tomorrow_

"Who is...?" Sakura's voice immediately cut off when she opened the door to see Naruto looking mussed and bruised on the other side. She blinked at him for a short moment, and then yanked him inside her dorm by his collar, "What the hell happened to you?" the words left her mouth in a viperous shout and Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Ino stared at the pair from her bed and pulled out the earphones that she was listening to, pausing her music in curiosity at Naruto's appearance.

"Ah, don't worry about that," Naruto muttered and looked to the side disparagingly, purposefully away from Sakura's accusatory green irises. She smacked him harshly on his arm and he flinched.

"Naruto, you idiot, what did you do!?" she gripped his shirt and pulled him over to her bed, forcing him to sit on it so that she could stare down at him intimidatingly. Ino shuffled off her own be and stood beside Sakura, peering at the odd mannered blonde male. Naruto had come here for a reason, since he felt an obligation to Sakura, but he really didn't want to get into details. In retrospect, he realized how rash and stupid his choice to traipse there with a black eye had been. Obviously it would have raised questions. A small part of him acknowledged that maybe he had wanted someone to confide in; someone that might begin to understand the turmoil he felt at the moment. Naruto took a breath and finally looked up at Sakura with a forced grin.

"So, I live with Sasuke, now!" he closed his eyes into his grin. He didn't want to see her reaction. When there was a good two minutes of silence he dared to peek at her and his grin fell awkwardly at her blank stare. Beside her, Ino was looking at Naruto intently. Naruto clasped his hands together and twiddled his thumbs with a sigh while Sakura finally seemed to breathe.

"Oh..." Sakura spoke quietly and tried to force sense back into her brain, "I-is that... a-alright?" she managed shakily, not really knowing what else to ask. Ino glanced between the two, feeling the atmosphere drop into something heavy, and realized that there was probably a lot that she didn't understand about their friendship dynamic. She always thought that Sasuke was cute, but she never really knew the guy. And she also didn't know Naruto very well until after Sasuke had left, anyway. So whatever tension this caused, it was entirely out of the construct she knew. But, being that Ino was perpetually nosey, she watched while Naruto's mouth morphed into another wide grin.

"No!" he answered as if he had said yes, and Sakura bit her lip.

"Let me get you arnica gel," she muttered and escaped into the bathroom for a short reprieve. Ino took the moment to observed the blonde. The usually happy and peppy blonde was, dare she think it, looking distressed. He had a smile plastered on his features, but it was his eyes that spoke otherwise. They looked guarded as he gazed out of their window and Ino tilted her head.

"Hey, Naruto," she spoke in a softer tone that she didn't know she was capable of, "did you guys get into a fight?" Ino asked and Naruto glanced up at her and swallowed.

"Heh, yeah, something like that," he looked at her with a solemn smile and Ino couldn't help but feel for the boy, wondering how Naruto just had that affect on people, "don't worry, we match!" he laughed and now that she was paying attention she could hear the pain inside of it. How odd it was to look at someone you knew, and experience someone entirely different. Had she never noticed Naruto's emotions before, or did Sasuke just do something to him?

"Oh, do you?" Sakura's annoyed voice came around the corner as she held a tube of ointment in her hand. She ambled over to Naruto and stood before him sternly, "Both of you are just... ridiculous," she sighed and opened the tube, putting some on her fingers and gently dabbing at the soft area around Naruto's eye, "how did this happen?" she asked softly and Naruto cringed lightly as her fingers prodded his face. Instead of answering, Naruto just shrugged and closed his eyes.

"My roommate is Gaara, though," Naruto spoke as if he was continuing a conversation that hadn't been started. Sakura was all too aware of Ino presence behind her and was tempted to ask her to leave the room, but a question she had poked at her mind relentlessly and she found her lips moving without her approval.

"You never told me..." she spoke quietly as she finished smearing the gel on his face, yet she didn't lean back and he opened his eyes confusedly, "I never knew about Kakashi's place..." that sentence could have so many meanings, but each and every one of them was something that Naruto didn't want to address and he widened his eyes slightly before looking at her with an extremely somber expression.

"It wasn't your burden to carry," he said softly and she felt water well up in her eyes, not understanding why Naruto felt like he had to do so many things on his own.

"I'm your friend," she felt her voice wavering, "I'll carry your burdens!" Naruto blinked at her and then smiled pitifully, as if he understood something that she didn't.

"Sakura..." the way he whispered her name made a tear fall from her eye and she growled.

"Don't do that! Don't do that!" Sakura leaned back and straightened up, clenching her fist, "I wan't to help you, and-"

"Sakura," this time, her name was spoken like an order and she closed her mouth. It was amazing how much Naruto had grown up since she met him. Now he could hold a presence that made people listen and respect him. He stared solidly at her, his eyes telling her that there was no room for argument, "I didn't mean to upset you," he tactfully avoided addressing any issues and she felt at a loss.

"Is it Sasuke's?" he blinked at her question, and she continued shakily, "Do you carry each other's burdens?" the words had come out rough and her next question was nearly raw, "Why? Why can't I help you two?" and Naruto sad blue eyes bore into her own. There wasn't even a particular reason why she couldn't. But Naruto just knew, the only person that could shoulder his pain was Sasuke, and vice-versa. It was a pitiful, but honest truth. He and Sasuke were connected by something that neither of them understood, but somehow they knew it existed.

"I didn't mean to upset you," Naruto spoke again kindly and stood up, "I just felt like I should tell you," he smiled at her and then squeezed her shoulder lightly while she stared up at him. Sakura immediately felt guilty. He shouldn't be comforting her right now, it should be the other way around. She reached a hand out, but he was already turning to leave, "Anyway, feel free to visit!" he waved behind his back with a grin and slid out the door, leaving Sakura alone with Ino, gazing at the door with her lip quivering.

"Sakura...?" Ino tried, not really knowing what to say, and Sakura angled her head towards the floor. It was exactly that type of reaction why she didn't have the same time of connection that they did - at least that was part of it. She took in a shaking breath and Ino's finger poked her shoulder, "Forehead, I'm a little lost..." Sakura let out a bitter laugh.

"Yeah, so am I..."

* * *

Naruto's morning had sucked.

He and Sasuke had stayed on the bathroom floor for a long while after Suigetsu and Gaara left. Finally, Sasuke stood and turned off the bathroom light as a warning, and stared at the blob of Uzumaki on the tile until Naruto slowly stood and watched Sasuke's retreating back. When Naruto was left alone in the community space, he turned out the hall light and made his way to his and Gaara's shared room, noticing that there were sheets on his already made bed. He smiled at the figure of his sleeping friend, appreciating his thoughtfulness, and then proceeded to curl up on the mattress and wrap his blanket that smelled suspiciously like Sasuke around him. Naruto huddled the cloth mass closer to him and gripped it tightly all night.

When morning came, Gaara had already left the room but had left a pop-tart on Naruto's nightstand and the blonde grinned and bit into it. He didn't dare take a shower or even use the bathroom, a little hesitant to enter the twilight-zone of a bathroom again. After he dressed, he walked into the common room to see Suigetsu lounging on the dinky sofa they had and staring blankly at the parallel wall. Neither of them spoke to one another. And Naruto didn't see Sasuke. He decided he didn't want to go to his class, and instead felt like he needed to tell Sakura about his arrangement. She was part of their team when they were kids, and he felt like she had the right to know for some reason.

That's how he landed in the situation he was currently in. And it sucked. Naruto had all good intentions when he went to Sakura's room, but now he was questioning his rational for telling her. And he wondering how in the world she knew anything about Kakashi's house and _what_ , exactly, she did know. Naruto needed ramen. He meandered through campus and plopped on a stool at Ichiraku's, ordering a bowl of ramen and a cup of coffee. He sat there idly, eyes glazing over, as he contemplated his situation.

He lived with Sasuke. That was intense. Usually, someone would assume that living with a friend you longed to have back in your life was a good thing, but for Naruto, he wasn't entirely sure. There were a lot of things that he and Sasuke had left unaddressed, and a lot of painful reminders of their childhood closeness that living together would bring up. And they just simply _weren't ready_. Now, they were both forced into a situation where they would have to see one another on a daily basis, and Naruto was actually fairly happy about that, but deeply scared at the same time. Sasuke was too much of who he was, and who he'd been, and Naruto was terrified to lose him, again, when Sasuke was so close. He felt like he had to tread lightly, but living together made that nearly impossible. He simply couldn't just leave Sasuke alone if they lived together. Or, he could, be he wouldn't want to. It was just all sorts of complicated and it was making Naruto's head hurt. There were moments in the past that-

"Here you go!" Ayame placed the bowl and coffee before him and Naruto smiled and thanked her. He barely got a sip of his coffee down his throat when his phone beeped.

 _Sasuke-to-Naruto: Avoiding something, loser?_

Naruto stared down at the message that had Sasuke's face staring through the phone at him next to it. _What?_ He felt his heart speed up as he re-read it. What was Sasuke talking about? And why was he even texting him? This was too surreal.

 _Naruto-to-Sasuke: What?_

Naruto continued to stare at the screen, willing the three dots that indicated Sasuke's typing to come up, but he saw nothing for over a minute and he finally placed the phone on the counter and took a slurp of his ramen. Just when the noodles touched his tongue a beep sounded again and Naruto nearly choked as he fumbled for his phone, causing Ayame to give him a concerned look.

Sasuke-to-Naruto: You're not in class, moron.

Naruto blinked at that. Yeah, he wasn't in class, but how did Sasuke...! They must be in the same class! Naruto swallowed roughly and continued to stare at the phone screen. What was he supposed to say to _that_? And what was Sasuke doing, trying to talk to him randomly, it was so _odd_!

 _Naruto-to-Sasuke: I can do what I want. Grab me a syllabus?_

Was that a normal response? He didn't know.

 _Sasuke-to-Naruto: Gaara did._

And that left Naruto staring hopelessly at the screen again. Gaara was in the class, too? Something seemed so desperately wrong about the scene that his mind created, one where they would all wake up in the morning and happily skip off to class together. This was going to be weird. Naruto let out a whine and realized that Sasuke's short response meant that he wouldn't text back again, so he put his phone on the counter face down and ate the rest of his ramen with frustration. When he was finished he thanked Ayame again and grabbed his coffee as he stood. He figured he should probably go his old dorm and grab the rest of his things.

"Hello?" he called shortly as he entered and was greeted by the sight of Kiba lounging on his bed, "Eh, hi!" Naruto spoke again, waving awkwardly and Kiba's eyes snapped to the door.

"Hey," the other boy spoke in a surly tone, then he sighed, "fuck you for leaving," he said defeatedly and Naruto smiled at his friend.

"Sorry, man, I didn't really get a choice, anyway," he admitted and Kiba watched as Naruto walked in fully and shut the door behind him.

"Yeah, yeah," Kiba scoffed, then squinted his eyes at his friend, "where'd you go, anyway?"

"Ah, I got moved to the Valley," his words made Kiba's eyes widen.

"Dude! Those are upperclassmen dorms!" the wolfish boy exclaimed excitedly, "You should totally throw a rager!" and that made Naruto chuckle and shake his head.

"Nah, man, I don't see that going well," the blonde admitted and waved a hand, "I have three roommates and two of them probably aren't really the type to host, ya know?" Kiba's brows rose considerably.

"Who'd you land?" there were a few silent beats after the question.

"Uh, I room with Gaara," Naruto answered with a smile and Kiba's brows dropped then.

"Naruto, who are the other guys?" Naruto began laughing awkwardly at Kiba's question.

"Heh, yeah, well, you see... I kinda...livewiththisguySuigetsuandSasuke..." Kiba blinked at the mush of words and finally comprehended them with a loud noise.

"What!? You're living with the Uchiha shitbag!? Holy fuck, the world is gonna end!" Kiba roughly pushed himself off the bed and grasped onto Naruto's shoulders and shook him, "Oh god, can I please come over an annoy him!?"

"Kiba," Naruto spoke warningly. He didn't want to mitigate his friend's behaviors. Kiba scoffed and shoved the blonde's shoulders.

"Fine, ya moved out, but at least you can offer entertainment in the future," the brunette folded his arms and imagined the epic fights he may witness in the future and Naruto sighed, "Hey, anyway, if you can't stand his face, you should come out tonight," Kiba offered and Naruto knit his brows together.

"Out? It's thursday night; out where?" Naruto questioned and Kiba's mouth grew into a devious grin.

"Yeah, so, you know how I've been looking into the greek life stuff?" the brunette looked smug and shrugged his shoulders, "Well I've been invited to a few parties to check out different frats - common' let loose!" Kiba nudged Naruto and the blonde scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, Kiba, I'm not really the frat-boy type. Hazing doesn't sound great to me," and it didn't. It sounded like it would bring up traumatic memories. Kiba scoffed as if Naruto was speaking blasphemy.

"Look, you don't have to, like, rush or anything. It's just some parties - free booze, Naruto!" Kiba grinned excitedly and Naruto considered this. Maybe getting out of his apartment for the night wasn't a bad plan. His experience with alcohol was limited, but he was in college... Kiba began to chant for Naruto to come with him and the blonde relented.

"Ehh, alright," Naruto shrugged, "maybe I could use the escape anyway..." Kiba thrust his fist in the air triumphantly with a grin.

"Sweet! Hey, let me help you out then-"

"You just want to see my dorm," Naruto accused while Kiba began to gather Naruto's scattered items from around the room. The brunette looked back with a bland expression.

"So?" he said, then continued to grab at various things and Naruto sighed.

"Yeah, alright, fine," he mentally hoped that all of his roommates where out of the dorm when they went by.

Twenty minutes later found Kiba and Naruto hobbling through the Valley with armfuls of items and Naruto struggled to find his key card, finally swiping it and managing to open the door.

"Dude, this place looks haunted as fuck," Kiba spoke loudly as they stumbled through the lobby and Naruto growled.

"Shut up, man," he snapped, not wanting to contemplate the hauntedness of his dorm and led them to the stairwell. When they finally reached his room Naruto was complaining loudly about how he had too much in his hands and Kiba was yelling at him for being such an idiot and then the door swung open.

"You're seriously so fucking loud, Naruto," Suigetsu sneered as he held the door open for the two boys and Naruto scoffed at him.

"Why are you always here?" Naruto asked as he breezed past him and Suigetsu made an offended noise.

"This kid, why am I always here- you haven't even lived here for two days!" Suigetsu watched Naruto and Kiba disappear into his dorm, "And hey, who is that kid?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Kiba's voice drifted from Naruto's room, and then his head popped back out, glaring at Suigetsu.

"That's Suigetsu," Naruto offered as he stepped out from behind Kiba, back into the common room, "Sasuke's roommate," he elaborated and Suigetsu's eyes flickered back to Kiba.

"Oh, are you a Konohagakure kid, too?" he asked, trying to connect the dots and see if the guy before him would interact with Sasuke the same way that Naruto did.

"Yeah," Kiba frowned at him, "Kiba," he said shortly and Suigetsu blinked at him. Kiba turned his head to Naruto, "Is he just as weird as Sasuke?" Naruto laughed at that and let his eyes wander to Suigetsu's contemplating expression.

"Nah, not really," the blonde muttered and walked to the fridge, opening the door, "Who bought beer!?" Naruto's head whipped around, surprised, looking at his silvery haired dormmate. The guy in question shrugged.

"It's mine," Suigetsu offered, as if it were a normal occurrence, then glared towards Naruto, "don't-"

"Wanna go to a party?" Kiba cut Suigetsu off and the two stared at each other while Naruto made a squeaking noise.

"Excuse me?" Suigetsu deadpanned.

"Yeah, like if we can pregame with your beer - do you wanna go?" Kiba asked again and Naruto felt his cheeks heating up. He wasn't sure how he felt about romping around with Sasuke's roommate, of all people. Kiba stared at Suigetsu expectantly, and the Sound Country native shrugged.

"Yeah, alright. Hand me one," he held his hand out to Naruto and the blonde silently handed him a can which Suigetsu popped open and waved a hand, indicating that they should take one. Naruto gave one to Kiba, who greedily grabbed it and popped the tab, and then he snatched one for himself. What was their first beer soon became their third beer and Naruto was feeling a little giddy. Suigetsu was teaching them some game with a deck of cards spread around a lonely can when Gaara walked in an stopped at the door, looking at the scene.

"Gaaraaa~!" Kiba was the first to look up and he grinned widely.

"Hello, Kiba," the red head offered cordially, "What is happening, here?" suddenly, Naruto bounced up from his spot on the floor and nearly tackled Gaara.

"Gaara, Gaara!" the blonde spoke excitedly and pulled back, looking into the other's hesitant eyes, "You're really awesome for setting up my bed last night!" Gaara nodded at the thanks and carefully peeled Naruto's hands off of him.

"Of course," he spoke and glanced at the two boys on the floor. He met Suigetsu's gaze.

"Have a beer, Gaara," Suigetsu said smoothly and Gaara blinked at him. He'd never had beer. He'd had plenty of wine and plenty of top shelf liquor, but he'd never had beer, so he crinkled his nose in distaste at the blue can that Naruto had shoved in his hand.

"Maybe; how about I just sit with you all?" Gaara offered and walked to the group in the cramped common space, plopping himself on the couch behind them.

"Oh, common' Gaara! Loosen up!" Kiba said, misinterpreting Gaara's distaste for inexperience and Gaara smiled.

"I prefer wine," he said and the group blinked at him. Something seemed to connect for Naruto.

"Oh yeah," the blonde said as he sat back down on the floor and grinned up at his roommate, "I forgot you were all fancy and shit," Gaara smiled politely at Naruto.

"What are you all doing?" the red head asked and Suigetsu explained the game, claiming that Naruto already came up with a rule where you had to call someone by a nickname instead of their real name, thus making the group drink a few gulps for forgetting on Gaara's name. Kiba pointed out that Gaara spoke his name and the red head grimaced, but popped open his can and took a dainty sip.

* * *

"Sassy!" was the first thing that Sasuke heard when he opened his door to his dorm and he stared at the group of four boys huddled around a can on the ground. It was Kiba whom had called the offensive term out, "Fuckin' Sassy, grab a beer!" the brunette called and Sasuke scanned the other three.

"Hey, roomie," Suigetsu said carefully and smugly smiled while Gaara nodded his direction and Naruto blinked at him.

"Bastard," he said as a form of greeting and Sasuke was very confused why there were four drinking boys in the middle of his dorm.

"What are you all doing?" the words left his mouth monotonously and Suigetsu smirked at him.

"Hey, grab a beer, 'Sassy'," he copied Kiba's term and Sasuke nearly wanted to growl. He wanted to punch them all and make them leave so that he could enjoy some solace, but then he looked at Naruto who was staring point-blank back at him with an oddly unreadable expression and he steeled himself. Maybe he could use a beer. Silently, he went to the fridge and grabbed a can, opening it and taking a heavy gulp. It was shitty beer, but he didn't really care.

"You need to catch up, asshole," Kiba said to him as Sasuke observed them from a distance, and the raven narrowed his eyes at the brunette.

"Kiba, what are you doing in my dorm?" he asked lowly, not enjoying the extra company, and Naruto stood abruptly.

"Ah! You broke the rule!" he pointed at Sasuke's face and the Uchiha blinked at the accusing finger.

"What are you talking about, loser?" Sasuke watched as Naruto walked a few steps towards him with a victorious grin.

"You said his name! You can't call people by their names!" _Ah, now 'Sassy' makes sense..._ Sasuke decided to indulge in the idiotic nonsense, if just to stop Naruto's jeering, and took a gulp of the beer, peering pointedly at the blonde, "Come sit down," Naruto smiled at Sasuke and the raven eyed him for a long moment before allowing himself to sit, completely by happenstance, in the spot left open by Naruto.

"Watch out, Sasuke gets angry when he's drunk," Suigetsu offered humorously and Sasuke glared at his roommate. He felt Naruto's eyes boring into him, and it brought back an awkward memory.

"Does he?" something about the way Naruto's voice sounded highly amused irked Sasuke and made the other's raise a questioning brow. Sasuke shifted his eyes to Naruto and took a long gulp of his drink, glaring at the blonde, while Naruto took a sip of his own and peered knowingly at the other.

"Okay, I'm serious, why are you two so weird...?" Suigetsu piped up and they broke their eye contact, glancing at him, and then Naruto reached for a card in the pile.

"Heyyy, 'never-have-I-ever'!" Naruto announced and there was collective of groans from Suigetsu and Kiba. Sasuke, did not want to play this, refusing to hold his fingers up, and Naruto seemed to notice and elbowed the raven, "What, are you a scaredy-cat?" he prompted and Sasuke glared and immediately put his fingers in the air, "Never have I ever... um, driven a car!" and Naruto hadn't. Between the lack of money and the walkability of the city he never found a need to. Everyone else but Gaara put a finger down.

"God, that terrifying..." Suigestu commented and Naruto shrugged.

"Never have I ever skipped a college class," Sasuke targeted at Naruto and the blonde let out a loud whine, complaining that it was unfair, and dropped a finger, making Sasuke smirk. Gaara was beside Sasuke and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Never have I ever broken a bone," was his submission and everyone else put a finger down. Gaara distantly wondered if they lived violent lives. Kiba smirked at Naruto and Sasuke before speaking and it made the other two deeply uncomfortable.

"Never have I ever kissed another dude," his smirk grew at Naruto's indignant expression and Sasuke's blazing glare and they stubbornly put a finger down.

"What the fuck!?" Suigetsu burst, leaning forward and peering at them, "Are you fucking serious!? Now it makes sense why-"

"No, haha," Kiba laughed amorously at the reaction but waved his hand, "There was this accident in grade school where some kid knocked into Naruto and he fucking lip-locked with Sasuke. It was hilarious. The girls were pissed!" Suigetsu eyed Kiba then looked back at Sasuke and Naruto and shuddered. There was too much he didn't know about Sasuke. The two in question didn't bother to elaborate, but Naruto's face held a deep, embarrassed flush while Sasuke's looked nearly deadly.

"Yeah, alright, well, never have I ever done the hanky-panky in public," Suigestu's eyes roved the crowd, but no one put their fingers down, "No? Alright, I'll ask again at the end of the year," he scoffed. Beside him, Naruto was trying to figure out what to say when Kiba suddenly yelped.

"Hey, we gotta go!" the brunette jumped up abruptly, "It's getting late and I wanna get there while we can still get some booze before the girls come out to play!"

"Where are you going?" Gaara asked idly and Naruto answered him as he was standing.

"Kiba is dragging me to some frat party, wanna come?" Gaara politely answered that he did not and Naruto nodded, figuring as much. Sasuke raised a brow as Suigetsu stood.

"You're going?" he asked and the male in question shrugged.

"Maybe I'll bring home a girl," he smirked and then the smile fell at the look that Sasuke gave him, "Eh, maybe I'll go home with a girl," Suigetsu amended, "did you wanna come out?"

"No," Sasuke spoke without a seconds break and stood, "I might have another of your beers, though," Suigetsu nodded his assent and Sasuke finished his can, "don't be obnoxious when you return," he said and didn't look at any of them as he passed them to go into his dorm room. Naruto watched his retreating back and then finished his own beer and left it on the floor - he'd just get it later. Kiba ushered them out the door and the quickly made their way across campus to the fraternity houses.

* * *

It was about five hours later that Naruto found himself standing in front of his dorm door, not remembering the trek back. He groaned and noticed that he was alone, and opened the door slowly to gaze at the dark common room. The blonde looked at his dorm room door for a moment and stumbled that way, then stopped by the couch and turned to look at the other dorm room door. Sasuke... his mind cried out, and he didn't realize that he had walked over to it until he was standing before it, knocking. His mind didn't comprehend how long he knocked until, finally, Sasuke opened the door blearily in his glasses and a pair of sweats. And only that. Naruto found his eyes traveling like an elevator across Sasuke's body, and when he finally reached the raven's face he found a pleasant flush across it.

"Hmm, Sasukeeh," Naruto spoke as his hands drifted up, one resting on a shoulder and the other tangling in the raven locks behind Sasuke's neck, "You're here," all Naruto was comprehending was that his most important person was in front of him and he didn't want him to go anywhere.

"You're drunk," Sasuke stated, his own eyes heavy, "I can't deal with you right now, I'm not sober," he admitted and Naruto looked baffled.

"But you... didn't go out?" the blonde's sentence structure was odd and Sasuke made a noise that was supposed by be a scoff but came out more like a whining groan.

"I had Suigetsu's," Sasuke answered, finding that he wanted to keep conversations short so that he could speak clearly. He had definitely had more than just two beers. But shit, he felt like he needed it. Naruto's blue eyes peered at his blearily, then, to Sasuke's surprise, the blonde walked into his dorm room past him and yanked on Sasuke's hand, barely giving the raven enough time to close the door behind them.

"Let's go to sleep," Naruto said determinedly heading towards what was obviously Sasuke's bed, and despite Sasuke's growing agitation he didn't untangle his fingers from the other's.

"This isn't your room, moron," Sasuke said quietly and Naruto stopped and turned around, looking at Sasuke more seriously than he should have been able to in his alcohol induced state.

"I know," Naruto replied just as quietly, then got on the bed and wiggled towards the wall, yanking Sasuke's hand with him and making the raven lean over the mattress precariously, "come to bed. Sleep with me," Naruto spoke as if they were the most innocent words in the world, and Sasuke blinked at him, "like when we were kids," the blonde muttered groggily and Sasuke felt something in his chest constrict painfully. He didn't bother to answer, and instead got into the bed and faced Naruto who opened blurry eyes to him.

"I'm sorry," tumbled from Sasuke's lips and he took his hand that wasn't occupied with Naruto's own and rested it on the blonde's cheek. And he was. He was so, so sorry for everything. He didn't even know how approach it. Naruto scooted closer to Sasuke until their bodies were flush and he nuzzled into the ravens neck and, on impulse, kissed a naked patch of skin there once, twice, and three times over, making Sasuke shudder.

"I know..." Naruto whispered against Sasuke's neck, and Sasuke wrapped his arm and intertwined his legs with the other, intent on letting him know that he was there, "...missed you..." Naruto bit at the patch of skin he had lazily been kissing, and Sasuke moaned quietly, "don't leave again..." Sasuke didn't answer, instead he let his hand that was wrapped around the other drift to his waistline and sneak under Naruto's shirt, lethargically sliding up the side of the blonde's taunt torso and his fingers rubbed softly by his ribs. It was that way that they fell asleep, entirely wrapped up in each other.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Woo, college cliches! So many fun scenarios to look forward to with these two hooligans..._

 _PS: I have a canon story out now, as well. It's called Dust To Dust, if anyone is interested in checking it out!_

 _PPS: I already know how both of these stories will end, it's just a matter of getting there... eventually... R &R!_


	8. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Naruto_** **and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and written purely for entertainment.**...Enjoy!

* * *

 _Chapter Seven: A problem shared is a problem halved_

There were distant noises outside of Sasuke's blissful sleep; at least, it was blissful until his head was pounding. Hangovers were always a bitch and he tended to get the worst headaches. He kept his eyes closed as there were a few more soft bangs and noises of shuffling somewhere beyond him, then he attempted to pull his blanket up further to hide away under it when he noticed something extremely important.

Sasuke was not alone.

There was a warm body wrapped up in his own, and it wasn't a sensation he was used to feeling. His eyes snapped open and he immediately regretted it since light from the window filtered in harshly and right into his pupils. He squeezed his eyes shut again and distantly noticed that he fell asleep with his glasses on. Sasuke's fingers twitched in his discomfort and he found them brush against another set that belonged to someone else, making him consider how drunk he was last night as he tried to recall what led to his situation. Muffled voices breeched the barrier of his dorm door and he furrowed his brows, wishing they would leave in peace.

"Gaara," a feminine voice rung out and Sasuke recognized it, "I was looking for Naruto..." she continued and Sasuke felt the body that was melded to his twitch with a groan.

"Nnn, wazzahappened...?" Naruto's voice groaned groggily, hand kneading into Sasuke's hair, "so silky..." the blonde cooed, completely incoherent and Sasuke groaned, his voice rumbling his own chest and he felt Naruto's muscles stiffen by him.

"I don't think he came home last night," Gaara's voice drifted into the room from under the door while Naruto pushed himself off from Sasuke quickly, making Sasuke's eyes snap open angrily at the sudden movement, and then right before Naruto was able to produce a loud moan at the pounding in his head Sasuke slid his hand out from under Naruto's shirt - what was it doing there, anyway? - and smacked it over his mouth, making blue eyes go wide.

"What? What do you mean?" Sakura's voice sounded worried and Naruto's wide cerulean orbs flew to the closed dorm door.

"Do you want them to find us like this?" Sasuke whispered contemptuously and grimaced, "Just stop moving, the world hurts," he grumbled and removed his hand from Naruto's lips, taking his arm and shoving it upwards to dislodge his glasses and cover his aching eyes. He decided not to contemplate the fact that Naruto's hand was still in his own.

"Sasuke...?" Naruto asked horsely, voice thick and gravelly from drinking, and felt himself collapse back on the bed. Sasuke was right, the world certainly hurt that day. Naruto laid his head next to Sasuke's on the pillow and closed his own eyes at the light, wondering why he was in Sasuke's bed, but disoriented enough to not care to question it.

"Some of the guys went to a party last night," Gaara's reply met their ears and then a silence followed where both Naruto and Sasuke could only hear the other breathing.

"Oh... I wanted to apologize to him," Sakura's voice sounded small, "but I'm glad he went out and had some fun... but he didn't come home?" that worried lilt in her voice returned and Naruto peeked his eyes open and looked guiltily at the door.

"You could text him; I'm sure he's fine," Gaara had suggested and the cogs in Naruto's brain began to function slowly. Text him? Where was his phone, anyway? Was it on silent? If it wasn't on silent then... _that would be obvious as hell_... he groggily started to grope around for his phone and managed to hit a few body parts that definitely weren't his own and Sasuke growled quietly at him.

"Yeah, that's a good idea, actually," Sakura decided outside and Naruto made a little more effort to find the elusive communication device. Beside him, Sasuke lifted his arm and his glasses fell back over his eyes. He thrust his hand out and it traveled from Naruto's side to his butt, a small squeaky noise being emit from Naruto as his eyes looked wildly at Sasuke, but the raven's hand slid easily into Naruto's back pocket and produced the phone just in time to snap the silent button into place before a text from Sakura appeared on the screen. Sasuke dropped the phone in the sliver of space between them, not caring where in landed, and put his arm back over his eyes. Naruto just then realized that Sasuke was shirtless and he blushed as he tried to reach his hand between them to receive his phone, "I'm sorry for barging over like I did," Sakura had told Gaara.

"I'm sure Naruto would be appreciative to have a friend that cares so much," Gaara assured her and another silence followed. Naruto was feeling around between him and Sasuke with a slow reach when Sasuke's stomach muscles tensed and Naruto's blue irises met Sasuke's annoyed ones.

"Will you stop fucking fidgeting?" he demanded sharply and Naruto scowled at him, shoving his hand more jerkily between them, just to prove a point, and Sasuke glared at him and finally unlatched their hands to place both his hands on Naruto's shoulders in a rough grip.

"Is that Sasuke's dorm?" Sakura's quiet voice invaded their ears and they paused their movements, both sets of eyes hesitantly traveling to the door - had she heard something?

"Yes," was Gaara's simple reply.

"Ah, I see," Sakura spoke and it sounded odd, "I probably shouldn't bother him, then," Sasuke found himself nodding in subconscious agreement and Naruto punched between Sasuke's shoulder and pectoral muscle.

"You're such a bastard!" he whispered harshly and Sasuke sneered at the blonde.

"You're the loser that crawled into my bed, making us stuck here," Sasuke retorted icily and, for some reason, Naruto felt his face heat up. Was it really so weird that they had slept together? _Well, not like that... eheheh_... Okay, yeah, it probably was...

"Oh!" came Sakura's surprised exclamation, and the boys looked up from their position on Sasuke's bed, both of them in a variation of an awkward contortion.

"You," Suigetsu's voice reflected the same hoarseness that Naruto's had earlier and Sasuke nearly jumped into action while Naruto was frozen in place. _Shii~it!_ Sasuke strode across the room at record pace and tried to figure out if there was a way to lock the door so that his roommate couldn't get in, "Ehhh," came Suigetsu's annoyed tone, even closer to the door. Naruto's eyes widened while Sasuke held his pounding head and snapped his face side to side looking for _anything_.

"Did you go to the party, too?" Sakura had asked Suigetsu and he grunted in response. The terrifying noise of the slide of a card made Sasuke turn to the door and fold his arms menacingly, glaring at the wooden barrier that dared to open. Suigetsu fumbled with the door handle and pushed it open lightly to lean his head in, then he raised his eyes from the floor and blinked blankly at the sight in front of him. Sasuke was standing before him, hair mussed and half naked with arms crossed looking peeved at the world, while Naruto was in a half sitting position on Sasuke's bed, hair equally as mussed and a shocked flush covering his features, the blanket ruffled and falling over the side. Suigetsu sucked in a breath, not knowing how to handle the situation in his hungover state, and he meekly looked at Sasuke's burning glare.

"Shut up and get the fuck out," Sasuke growled lowly and Suigetsu didn't have the will to argue. He blinked at Naruto one more time before edging back out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

"Um, are you okay?" Sakura's voice traveled and there was the sound of someone walking away from the door.

"I forgot something at Karin's," Suigetsu grumbled and then there was the sound of the front door shutting roughly that resounded and Naruto cringed at the loud bang. Sasuke slowly turned around and trudged back to his bed with a deadly expression. Naruto opened his mouth, then closed it in surprise when Sasuke climbed back on the bed and shoved him further towards the wall so that he could lay facedown on the pillow.

"Sasuke," Naruto whispered in an anxious haste as he placed his palm on the other's bare back, prodding at the skin, and Sasuke waved his hand to rid the appendage with a grunt.

"Stop talking; if you're staying then fucking sleep," he ground out, muffled by the pillow, and Naruto blinked at the back of the raven's head. He was _way_ too tired and _way_ too hung over to fight with Sasuke right now, so he flopped down on the bed, making Sasuke grunt in annoyance again, and nuzzled into the fluffy pillow as he pulled the blanket back over them.

"G'night, bastard," Naruto yawned as he shut his eyes, and Sasuke gave a noncommittal noise in response.

"I guess he had a little too much," Sakura's annoyed voice reached them, muffled by the walls, "I wish I could've asked him where Naruto was; he didn't respond yet," Naruto opened his eyes again, guilt settling once more in his gut and he reached distractedly around the bed for his phone. His knuckles ended up grazing Sasuke's cheek, and not that of the facial variety, and Naruto pulled his hand away abruptly when Sasuke turned his glasses clad face to him.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke bit out and Naruto blushed lightly.

"Eh, sorry, just... my phone," Naruto spoke lamely and Sasuke glared at him before sighing. Sasuke's hand came up and pushed Naruto's head down on the pillow by his temple, ending with their faces only a few inches apart.

"Sleep," Sasuke ordered roughly and Naruto scowled at him and, in a moment of rash stupidity, the blonde shoved Sasuke's torso causing him to growl and shove Naruto back, resulting in a bang against the bedroom wall. As soon as the loud noise sounded, both of their eyes went wide.

"Is Sasuke in there?" Sakura asked beyond the room, sounding surprised since Suigetsu just left flustered. Sasuke groaned, _the world knows no peace_ , and then he shuffled and got up from the bed, causing Naruto to reach out for him in fear of what the Uchiha might do in his hungover state. His nails scraped against the side of Sasuke's ribs, causing angry red marks to appear, and Sasuke smacked the blondes hands away and bounded for the door, opening it roughly so that only he appeared in the crack of it.

"I just want quiet; get out," he growled at the pair standing in the hallway and they blinked at him. Gaara's eyes were curiously plastered to his neck and Sakura's face flushed as her eyes roved his body, and then became stuck on his face.

"You wear glasses?" she asked breathlessly and he glared at her. Sakura found her eyes straying downwards, towards his toned physique, but her green orbs got caught on the same spot as Gaara's and her blush turned crimson, "Y-you have a-a..." she stuttered out and couldn't look at his eyes, "Ah, sorry, I'll just be going. Thank you, Gaara!" she stammered and quickly made her retreat. Sasuke watched her leave with scornful eyes, then his vision drifted back to Gaara who was eyeing him with a curious expression, eyes flickering across Sasuke's body.

"You can tell Naruto that his bed is safe to come to now," the red head provided and Sasuke glared at him for a good minute before he abandoned his door and yanked the blonde from his bed. Naruto offered a complaint as he was roughly shoved towards the door and out of the frame. He barely had time to shout about his phone before Sasuke chucked it at him and Naruto caught it between his hands and his chest. Sasuke shoved the blonde out fully before he slammed the door shut and closed his eyes. _Peace, finally..._ Sasuke opened his eyes and caught his reflection in the mirror on the back of his door. Red scratch marks lined one side of his body and there was a dark splotch of skin on the lower part of one side of his neck. _A hickey?_ He looked like... it looked like he and Naruto... it looked like they... _well, fuck_. Sasuke frowned at his reflection, but refused to address it and instead traipsed back to his bed and pulled the blankets over him and his aching head. Somehow, though, he felt cold.

On the other side of the door, Naruto was standing grumbling to himself with a red tint on his face and refusing to look at Gaara.

"What were you doing in there?" his friend asked cautiously and Naruto flicked his eyes up with a scowl.

"I donno, Gaara," he bit out and then sighed and waved a hand, "Sorry, sorry, I'm just hung over as hell..." Naruto walked past Gaara, into their shared dorm and plopped on his own bed. Sleep came to him shortly after.

* * *

When Sasuke woke up again it was nearly mid-day and he stared up at his ceiling, bleary eyed without his glasses. With a lazy movement, he reached his hand to his nightstand and grasped at them, pushing them into place and sitting up with some effort. His head still hurt, but it wasn't nearly the pain he'd endured earlier that morning. He opened the drawer of his bedside table and pulled out a bottle of aspirin and swallowed two dry. Hopefully that would ebb the rest of the pain away. Realizing that he was dehydrated, he stood from his mattress and rubbed the rest of the sleep away from his eyes before he slowly trudged to the door and, once again, caught his own reflection. The red marks had faded to a few pinkish lines under his ribs, though clearly in the formation of nails scraping, and there was still a small patch of purplish skin at the juncture of his neck, maybe the size of a fingernail. _Fucking shit, moron!_ Sasuke thought angrily as his fingers came up to rub at the tender spot. When had Naruto even given him a hickey? And why the hell did he do that, anyway? His dark eyes roved over his frame and he grimaced. He looked ravished, marked and with his hair standing at haphazard angles. _Godammit..._ With an angry huff, he walked to his wardrobe and yanked out a black sweatshirt, throwing it over the evidence of his drunken escapade. He tried to recall the whole of the previous night, but all his brain put together were choppy images of Naruto at his door and then them tangled together in his bed while Naruto said something about when they were kids. He looked in the mirror again before he yanked the door open, eyes lingering on the edge of the bruise mark that was barely visible at the cusp of the bunched hood of the sweatshirt. _Why the fuck did you bite me?_

Sasuke glanced around the common room, content to find it empty, then walked to the kitchenette and grabbed a cup, turning on the tap and filling it with water. He was on his third cup when Suigetsu strolled in again and eyed Sasuke adversely immediately upon his entry. Sasuke glared right back, plopping the cup on the counter with a harsh sound of plastic meeting laminate.

"The fuck happened to you last night?" Suigetsu asked with narrowed eyes, still hesitant to move away from the door- he might need to escape. Sasuke's glare didn't relent.

"I drank most of your beer," he dared the other to challenge the statement with an icy look and Suigetsu's eye twitched as his mouth drew in a line. He watched Sasuke silently for a few moments, then sighed and folded his arms.

"Are you alright, man? It's not like you to get casually plastered," Suigetsu finally looked at him with a careful concern and Sasuke scowled, "If it was you'd be a lot more fun..." the other added under his breath and was met with a sneer.

"I'm fine," Sasuke roughly grabbed at the cup again and filled it with tap water before bringing it to his lips and chugging it down.

"I didn't know you were into guys-" Sasuke sputtered on his water at Suigetsu's bland statement and narrowed his eyes dangerously at the other.

"We didn't _do_ anything!" he felt like he had to defend himself under his friend's scrutiny, then collected his composure and slid the cup on the counter again and crossed his own arms, "I don't owe you explanations anyway; this has nothing to do with you," Suigetsu scoffed at the statement.

"I'd hope not - I guess I'm lucky I'm not your _type_ ," the light haired man snickered and avoided the cup that was chucked his direction. Sasuke seethed before him and looked down his nose at the other, chin tilted to the air.

"Of course your not my type, you worthless piece of shit!" he couldn't help it. He was embarrassed. And when he was embarrassed, he got angry. Suigetsu chuckled again, enjoying this odd button he found to bother Sasuke with.

"Ah, all your insults say are 'I love you, Suigestu!', bahah!" he guffawed at the growing annoyance in Sasuke's eyes, ignoring the fact that he was prodding the bear, and smirked as Sasuke bristled. Before the raven could retort, Suigetsu reached into a paper bag that he held and chucked a foil wrapped object his way, "Eat; you're even more of an ass when you're hungover," he offered snidely and Sasuke gingerly unwrapped the foil to find a juicy cheeseburger inside. Regularly, the food would have made him gag, but greasy food was necessary for a hangover and he bit into it, still glaring at his friend, "I never pictured you as a person that dug blondes..." Sasuke choked down his bite a growled.

"I'm not involved with Naruto, you dolt!" he hissed and ripped another piece of the burger into his mouth rather viciously. Suigetsu smirked deviously.

"I always thought you were just asexual," he shrugged and Sasuke's eyes watched him in a deadly stare, "It makes sense now that you were just gay," Suigetsu's deviant expression wavered at the morbid energy that Sasuke was giving off as the other swallowed his bite and looked abnormally calm. _Uh-oh... I crossed a line... now he's actually angry... fuck..._

"You're pressing your luck, Suigetsu," Sasuke spoke lowly and eyed the other man coldly, "better sleep with your eyes open," Suigetsu avoided the urge to joke about having to do that in case Sasuke were to jump him, knowing that he'd dig himself even deeper, and finally sobered his face.

"Hey now, I'm just kidding around," Suigetsu started, shrinking under the Uchiha's calculating eyes, "seriously, I don't give a fuck what you do - just don't like fucking dismember me, or something..." he added warily. _Okay, sometimes I push this guy too far..._

"If you'd be so lucky," Sasuke muttered darkly and looked away, taking another bite of his greasy meal. Suigetsu shuddered, but knew that if Sasuke's deadly glare had been averted he could rest knowing that he wouldn't be assaulted. _...yet_.

* * *

"Hey," Naruto said sheepishly at a groggy looking Kiba. The brunette boy looked worse for the ware and opened the door wider without saying a word, then stumbled back to his bed and fell face-down onto it. Shino offered a short wave and then went back to watching a video on his laptop.

"Waghh-uueh-unghheurreh...?" Kiba's slur was magnificently muffled and Naruto walked closer to the figure with a baffled gaze.

"Ehh? What are you saying...?" he lent down and poked the other, Kiba flinching and emitting an annoyed sound at the contact. The dog-lover flipped his head to the side with an unamused gaunt.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned with a grumbled whine and Naruto crouched down so that he was eye level to Kiba.

"Ah, you see, I... think I blacked out?" Kiba scoffed at the unsure assertion and Naruto felt an unconfident heat raise to his cheeks.

"Hell yeah, you did!" the boy on the bed shifted and raised his head to rest in a palm, elbow digging into the mattress, "You were such an idiot, dude! This girl was clinging all over you and you just kept pushing her off of you - actually, she looked familiar. Red hair; glasses?" Naruto's jaw dropped, appalled in realization.

"Karin!?" he screeched and nearly fell backwards, "No - shit - no! She's, like, my second cousin or something!" Kiba eyed his blonde friend and then shrugged, uninterested.

"Oh, maybe she just wanted to talk to you, then. I donno... anyway, she left with that Suigetsu guy," Naruto's brows raised at the admission and he finally gathered why Suigetsu hadn't been in the room when he woke up. When he woke up... with Sasuke... he tried to force the heat off of his face, "Anyway, where the fuck did you go? You'd watched them leave with this weird-ass look and then muttered something and disappeared..." Kiba informed him and Naruto was befuddled. What wasn't he remembering, "Guh!" Kiba suddenly barked in laughter and Naruto jumped a little, "You definitely got shit-faced after Lee!" the brunette continued to chuckle and Naruto's brows drew in. Lee? What did Lee have to do with anything? His brain produced hazy images of the amorous male challenging him to some game and then somehow a table being broken... Something about Sakura... Sakura!

Naruto quickly extracted his phone from his pocket and opened his phone to look at his messages. Then he froze in terror. There were messages there that he didn't remember having. What the _fuck_ was he doing last night? While Kiba was spouting off about some story he thought was hilarious about Lee, Naruto eyed the contacts in his list and what appeared next to them. The latest was obviously Sakura, whom had texted him that morning, then there was Kiba who had asked him where he went (with a few spelling errors), then under that was a conversation with Gaara and below that... Sasuke. _What...?_ Then there were two unnamed numbers. Naruto opened Gaara's thread and saw that he had texted his red headed roommate to tell him that he was coming home - so that's how he knew that Naruto was there - and then he hesitantly backed out and looked at the unnamed numbers before he dared to open Sasuke's thread. The first one simply had Karin's name attached to it, then the second read ' _don't abuse my number, dipshit. [heart] Suigetsu_ ' and Naruto scrunched his nose in distaste. That guy was an idiot. Naruto finally swiped at Sasuke's name and he read a short threat of messages that started with a rather crude one that Naruto had sent explaining exactly what he wanted to do to Sasuke's body, then a hasty message right afterwards that claimed the first had been sent by Sasuke's 'girlfriend'. Sasuke had replied with a short ' _stop texting me_ ' and Naruto had countered with a poorly spelled claim that Sasuke couldn't make him, then a spam of jibberish. After the bombardment, Sasuke finally wrote that he would turn off his phone, but Naruto sent him a random picture of him and Karin making ridiculous kissy-faces - what the _hell!?_ \- then the blonde had sent a message almost an hour later saying something that, for the love of god, he wished he hadn't typed. It read, ' _I don't want you to be alone_.' written with surprising clarity, then Sasuke's reply of, ' _then come home, loser_ ,' was written, and that was the end. Naruto blinked at it. Did Sasuke remember that conversation? Because he sure as hell didn't. Given, that had been sent around two in the morning. Well... shit.

"Naruto!" Kiba's hand smacking his face made the blonde look up with a shocked expression, "I've said your name like three times now, what the fuck is on your phone?" Naruto panicked. What was on his phone? Not an awkward conversation with Sasuke, that's what! He quickly subdued that screen and hoped to all that was mighty that there were some stupid pictures in his photo album. Thankfully, there were a number of selfies he had apparently taken with Karin and Suigetsu cameoed in the back of some of them.

"Eheh, there's these really stupid pictures..." he trailed and turned the phone screen so that Kiba's eyes could feast upon the glory that was Naruto and Karin pulling at an angry Suigetsu's cheeks. Kiba blinked and then snickered.

"That guy is something else, man, he drinks like a fucking fish!" Kiba got an odd look of his face and seemed to think something over, "Although, when I told him that he started muttering about how he still needed to make shark stew when he got back to Sound... whatever that means..." Naruto raised a brow and then his mind wandered to the last time he saw Suigetsu. Which had been that morning. When he was in Sasuke's bed. Again, that pesky heat rose to his cheeks, then dropped off in anxiety - Suigetsu was a gossip, wasn't he? "Yo, dude, you alright? Don't you dare fucking puke on me," Kiba scuttled back and Naruto swallowed then grinned.

"Ahah, no, I'm fine, don't worry about it," he suddenly felt like he didn't want to talk about last night with Kiba anymore, "Anyway, I have to go see Sakura," Naruto offered as an excuse and stood up while Kiba shrugged and muttered something to him with his face in his pillows again. The blonde spoke his hasty goodbyes and then beelined out of the room, closing the door behind him and breathing in a sharp intake of breath on the other side. The Sasuke issue needed to be addressed. At some point. Not then.

Naruto swiped at his phone and pulled up Sakura's message and responded back saying that he was fine, everything was fine, and not to worry about anything. This almost immediately got a response from her demanding him to call her. Damn him and his transparency; Sakura could always tell when something was amiss!

"Hiii...!" Naruto spoke in a higher pitch than he meant to when she picked up her phone.

"Naruto," he winced at her tone, "I came to apologize, but you're acting weird. Why are you acting strange!?" she hissed and Naruto didn't dare to breathe. Maybe if he pretended he wasn't there- "Naruto!" nope, nope, she still wanted answers. What to say... What to say...

"Eh, calm down feisty-pants!" he ignored her growl on the other end and opened the building's door to step out into the courtyard, "I'm just... I'm fine, I just went out last night! Everything is fine, though," he couldn't think of anything else to say, and felt uneasy when her side was silent.

"Naruto," her voice was quiet and scandalized, "did you..." Naruto knew she was too smart, he knew that she would figure it out! "Did you go home with someone!?" she pried and Naruto nearly dropped his phone. That's what she thought? Well, shit, if that's what she wanted to believe-

"Yep!" he grinned happily. Problem averted, the world was a wonderful place again! Now he could continue on with glee-

"Whaa~at!?" a voice blared through the phone that definitely wasn't Sakura's, "Shut up, Ino! Sorry, Naruto... Ino, stop!" there was a noise of a struggle then Ino's voice was crystal clear on the other side, "Naruto, you mangy mutt, who the hell did you go home with!?" her voice was overly excited, perfectly contented to find out this new gossip, and Naruto wanted to crawl under a rock. Well, shit hit the fan and now the rumor mill was going to begin turning - wonderful, "Was it Hinata!? Tell me it was Hinata!" she squealed and then there was an odd grunting noise and a yell, then Sakura came back on the phone, "Sorry, Ino-pig is such a gossip whore - although... I'm curious, too," Sakura's last words were barely above a whisper and Naruto panicked. _Ah, what the hell do I do now? Shiiit._

"Ah, heh, it's not really my policy to kiss and tell, ya know..." he tried and the line was quiet again. What did he say this time?

"...Was it... Hinata...?" the question was hesitant and Naruto screwed up his face, unsure of why Hinata's name kept being mentioned. He didn't want to tarnish the poor girl's reputation.

"No! No, it wasn't Hinata," he sighed and switched his phone to his other ear tiredly. These girls were a hand full. He heard Ino mutter something about Hinata being heartbroken and Naruto scrunched up his face again in confusion.

"Oh, okay, well then..." Sakura started then sighed, "Well, okay, you're entitled to your own business - but hey, Naruto, I did want to apologize. I made it about me again when it should have been about you, yesterday," Naruto blinked at her admission, truly not understanding her remorse. Why did she feel guilty about anything? That didn't make sense to him. He was the one that shouldn't have sprung the information on her.

"No, Sakura, what are you saying?" Naruto shook his head even though the other couldn't see him as he passed through the gate to the Valley, "You don't need to apologize to me; you're fine," he assured her and meandered down the walk at a leisurely pace. She sighed on the other end.

"Naruto, you take on too much alone," her voice sounded weary and he frowned, "You know I'm here for you, right?" she asked and he felt a little guilty about lying about the previous night, then. Though, not enough to fess up.

"I know, Sakura, you're the best!" He spoke cheerily and she sighed again on the line, "Hey, so, I just got back and I have to go, but maybe let's hangout later?" Naruto smiled through the phone.

"Yeah, sure," she responded kindly and then they spoke their goodbyes and Naruto ended the call, staring blankly up at his building. _Can I really do this for a whole year?_ he contemplated and frowned, _we'll be lucky if we both get out with all our limbs attached..._ he thought morosely and then pushed the door open, heading to his dorm to face whatever wrath Sasuke might have for him.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Woohoo! Another chapter! For those who have been reviewing; thank you! I sincerely appreciate your comments and encouraging words! They propel me to keep writing :) Quick note: so, I'm trying to portray the boys where their personalities were at their given ages in the manga/anime. So, let's say that they are about seventeen here... Naruto is still silly, but he's matured a bit... but Sasuke is massively confused about where he stands in the world. He's kind of lost his faith in humanity and more-or-less just thinks that a lot of things don't really deserve his time or effort. He's sort of just stumbling along the path that he thinks he's supposed to take - this is basically saying that he's kind of in an identity crisis and - honestly - a little depressed. He has a lot of transformation to go through, still. For sure. (He's still a little unstable) ... additionally, I just want to say something on those matters. So, I will not really be delving into metal illness in this story, it will just be a minor shadow of an idea, but mental illness is nothing to take lightly or laugh at. There are many people whom suffer internally from hormonal imbalances and depression, along with a multitude of other things, and I want to stay respectful of the fragility of issues like that. If this note reaches the eyes of anyone who feels like they suffer from something akin to depression or mental illness, I encourage you to reach out for help. There are people out there that care, and many organizations that offer help in such matters. And looking for help is nothing shameful, in fact it's a very strong thing to do._

 _Alright, sorry for the seriousness! Anyway, plenty more to find out about Naruto and Sasuke's pasts. Things will gain more perspective as the story continues! I'm open to criticism! R &R!_

 _Till next time~!_


	9. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer: I do not own** ** _Naruto_** **and am in no way associated with Masashi Kishimoto. This story is not for profit, and written purely for entertainment.**...Enjoy!

* * *

 _Chapter Eight: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer_

"Ungh!" the grunt fell from Naruto's lips as he was slammed against the wall shortly after his entry to his dorm. Well, shit...

"Hey, moron, you gave me a fucking hickey," Sasuke growled in his ear and Naruto shivered at the intensity. _Er... I did what now?_ The blonde dared to look up and was met with fiery dark eyes. _Ahh! He's so pissed!_ Naruto inwardly panicked, but growled back and pushed Sasuke away.

"Yeah!? Well-um-yeah! Fucking deal with it, bastard!" He tripped over his insult and tried to look intimidating, meanwhile his head was echoing, _I gave him a hickey!? I gave him a hickey!? What the fuu~uck!?_ Sasuke glowered at the blonde and pulled down his sweatshirt collar, exposing a deep purple mark about the size of his thumb-nail. Naruto blinked at it. He'd really done that?

"What the fuck, Naruto!?" Sasuke seethed again and Naruto finally had the curtesy to look sheepish after seeing his handiwork. The blonde tried to grin apologetically (and awkwardly).

"Eh, sorry, I guess I was really drunk... heh..." Naruto watched as Sasuke's features darkened considerably and sucked in a breath. Uh-oh...

"Naruto," his name sounded like a death-sentence, "this is unacceptable," Sasuke spoke and Naruto swallowed.

"Sasuke, I said-GAH!" Naruto yelped when Sasuke's mouth dove to his neck and bit down harshly, a lewd sucking sound following and finally the cold chill of residual saliva meeting the air. The blonde had been too surprised to push Sasuke away, eyes wide, then when he saw Sasuke's cruel, smug smirk the reality of it came back to him, "You're not even drunk, asshole, what the hell!?" he shouted, slightly more throatily than he meant to.

"Now you can deal with that shit," Sasuke murmured and turned around, skulking to his room and slamming the door shut. As Naruto was watching him walk away, it was only then that he noticed Suigetsu on the dingy couch in their common room and his face instantly flushed with crimson. Suigetsu had his eyes narrowed and a brow raised.

"Don't ever fuck on my bed, okay?" the other spoke with a suspicious causality and Naruto's jaw dropped.

"WHAT!?" Naruto sputtered and waved his hands in front of him, "Oh my god, no! It's not- we're not- we don't- oh my god, that's so messed up!" he heaved out and Suigetsu smirked at him, shuffling on the couch to lay on his stomach and rest his chin in his palm.

"Mhmm, okay kid, sure," he replied flippantly and Naruto's face began to feel like it had caught fire.

"Agh! Just stop! Seriously! It's not like that!" Naruto shouted adamantly and began to stomp to his room in embarrassment, "At all! So fucked up, seriously!" he ignored Suigetsu's judgmental, amused eyes as he passed him and proceeded to slam his own door when he reached his room. The mirror swung on the back of it and when it settled he looked at his reflection. Despite the flustered redness that covered his skin, there was a clear purple bruise where Sasuke _bit_ him - it was brutality at it's finest, he swore - and he cursed aloud. Not only was it prominent and an awkward reminder of the previous night, but it was larger than Sasuke's! _Bastard!_

In the mirror, Naruto's eyes kept darting from his neck to his own blue irises.

"You know what you need, Naruto?" he asked himself as he pointed a finger at his reflection jabbingly, "You, you handsome devil, you need the company of some individuals of the female persuasion!" he told himself and nodded assuringly. He instantly began rummaging around his room for some clothes, particularly something that would cover his... battle wound... and settled on a simple outfit with a light jacket that he could zip up to midway up his neck, covering his bruise. He looked into the mirror and shook a hand through his unruly hair before nodding and exiting the room.

"Where are you going, 'you handsome devil'?" Suigetsu snickered behind his hand and Naruto glowered at him with a blush.

"Fuck you," he grumbled and stalked out of the dorm, taking out his phone, "Sakura! Let's hangout now, okay?" Naruto tried sweetly as the dorm door shut behind him, drowning out Suigetsu's taunting snickers.

* * *

Going to Sakura's dorm probably wasn't the most intelligent idea since it left him inundated with questions by the gossip starved girls. He had gotten by being mostly ambiguous, their understanding being that he met some nameless dark-haired 'babe' at a party. When Ino figured out that she wouldn't get any juicy details from the blonde she huffed and crossed her arms, claiming he was no fun.

"Anyway," Naruto grumbled, then smiled brightly at the other two, "hey, let's go have fun tonight - anywhere - what do you guys say?" he was met with blank stares, then Ino smirked lecherously while Sakura looked disgusted.

"You pig!" the short haired girl spat and swung a fist that Naruto narrowly avoided.

"Wow, I didn't picture you to be that type of guy, Naruto!" Ino laughed and Naruto flickered his eyes between the two, confused.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, genuinely at a loss, and Ino waved her hand in the air.

"Oh, don't act all innocent! It's okay that you're a slut - I just never imagined!" the blonde girl cackled deviously, eyes gazing at him excitedly at the revelation and Naruto felt a blush on his cheeks.

"A... a slut? What?" he was too flustered to shout, then he glanced at Sakura's disapproving eyes and gathered himself, "Wait, you think I want to go out to bed a chick?" Ino scoffed at him as if it were obvious. Well, he wasn't not going out to do that, but it wasn't his sole purpose, "Wait, no, it's not-" Naruto suddenly recognized why Sakura seemed so against it. She thought he had hit it and quit it with someone else just last night. Great... "-I just want to hangout; I'm not trying to hit a home-run," he reasoned and Sakura's expression eased. Not that she really had a right to judge anyway, but whatever.

He'd gotten the girls to agree to go out with him, and had even convinced Kiba to skip out on his precious frat parties via some guilt producing statements over text. Naruto had contacted Shikamaru, who talked to Choji, and somehow Kiba had snagged both Shino and Hinata. The blonde hadn't even bothered going home that day, instead just lounging around with Ino and Sakura until their odd conglomerate of a group hit the town. He didn't want to go back to his dorm. At all. In fact, he really just wanted to forget that it existed. So, for the moment, he did. He felt a little bad about not texting Gaara... but he still hadn't had a chance to talk to him. And he really didn't want to bring anything up. If he could, he was going to avoid his place for the entire weekend.

"Hey, what's up guys?" Kiba called as he met them in the courtyard, Shino and Hinata flanking him. Shino wore his sunglasses still, even in the fading light, and Hinata walked slightly behind them with a conservative outfit, long hair fanning out in the light breeze.

"Hello, everyone!" Hinata spoke shyly and Ino ambled to her and threw an arm around the petite girl's shoulders, making her squeak lightly.

"Hinata, if I had your body, I wouldn't cover up so much - I mean, shit!" the blonde girl pointedly looked down at Hinata's chest and the Hyuuga blushed.

"Ino, stop, not everyone is a whore like you," Sakura chastised her roommate and Ino glowered.

"I'm just saying," Ino grumbled, then glared at Sakura, "just because you're flat doesn't mean everyone else has to accommodate..." she muttered under her breath and Sakura's brow twitched.

"What was that Ino-pig!?"

Kiba stepped between the glaring women and peeled Ino's death-grip off of Hinata's shoulder.

"Hey, ladies, I'd take any one of you for a round-Ow!" he received a punch to his shoulders from both Sakura and Ino. Shikamaru sighed and wondered why he bothered to hangout with any of those idiots, and Naruto watched his friends with a smile. _Yes, this is good. Normalcy..._

"Guys, let's goo~o!" he called anxiously, hopping from foot to foot and Kiba stopped rubbing his shoulders to stare at his friend.

"What's got you all revved up?" the brunette asked suspiciously and Naruto stopped his antics - _Wait, don't draw attention to yourself..._ \- and shrugged, looking away. The group chattered as they wandered through the campus, talking about their first week of school and the odd characters of their professors. Naruto found out that Hinata did, indeed, switch from Jaraiya's class to Kurenai's and that Shikamaru had a class with Gaara's half-sister. They reached the edge of the campus and continued into the city. Their university was embedded in a park-like community within the city, so the meandered through that, chatting loudly, until they reached the historic district on the other side and continued to one of Konoha's more notorious night-life areas.

"Ah, look at it," Kiba announced, fanning out his arms in a glorified motion, "It's beautiful," he grinned toothily at the smattering of people who clamored around for nighttime festivities, most of the women in more revealing clothes. Ino assessed her competition and pulled her top to reveal a little more cleavage with a huff. Shikamaru eyed the motion and made a disgruntled face at her.

"Alright," Sakura chimed in, peering at the neon-lit names on the block, "Where to?" her eyes instantly darted to a place she'd been dying to try since her previous birthday.

"Hey, hey, some of us aren't eighteen yet!" Naruto reminded her and she scowled at him, "What!? It's like half of us, not just you!" he tried and Ino nodded beside him.

"You're just old, Sakura," she conceded and Naruto immediately put his hands up defensively.

"W-wait, I wasn't calling you old-"

"Let's just find a place!" Shikamaru suggested impatiently and pointed at a sign somewhere randomly along the cobbled road. Everyone's eyes followed his point and landed on a sign that read 'Shinobi' in swirling scrawl. The genius hadn't meant to point there specifically, but hey, whatever got the job done.

"Ooo, I've heard of this place!" Ino wrapped her painted nails around Shikamaru's shoulder and excitedly pulled at him, "It's perfect, too. It's not even an under-age place, but they'll turn a blind eye for a profit. Their ambiance is, like, totally dirty - in a good sort of fusion way!" she rambled on, yanking Shikamaru's slack shoulder. Kiba shouted his approval, claiming to his seduction prowess, and Sakura shrugged. It was as good a place as any. Naruto eyed it, wondering exactly what Ino's description had meant. They ambled to the door and split up in more manageable groups. Ino went in first with Choji and Shikamaru, setting the example for Shikamaru's smooth transfer of cash via casual handshake. Once the got in, Kiba urged Shino and Hinata forwards, pushing Hinata to the front and offering a payment for his younger friends; he didn't need it. He'd turned eighteen in July. With a guffaw at a joke he consorted with the bouncer they disappeared beyond the dark door, Hinata looking back warily at Sakura and Naruto. Sakura tugged at Naruto's hand, holding it roughly, and led them to the bouncer with a smile.

"Hi, how are you?" she offered the guy who eyed her lecherously. The man chewed on a toothpick and leered at her with a grin as she pulled out her ID, allowing him to survey it.

"I woulda' let you in anyway, sweetcheeks," he grinned and handed the ID back. Sakura inwardly cringed, but prepared her wad of cash that Naruto had slipped her.

"What's you're name?" she batted her lashes as him and his eyes stayed on her chest, making her fight the urge to punch him.

"Genma, sweetheart."

"Genma," the words came out like a purr and she leaned forwards, her hand on his chest, slipping the currency into his breast pocket, "so, we're good?" she smiled at him and his eyes traveled to Naruto's. Naruto was watching Sakura with a slightly appalled expression and Genma emit a chuckle.

"Yeh, yeh, we're good," he waved them on and, to both teen's surprises, laid a hard smack on Naruto's ass as he walked by, making the blonde nearly squeak, "Haha, lighten up, kid!" he called as Naruto quickly maneuvered around Sakura's form to get away from the guy.

"He should be fired!" Naruto grumbled with a bright blush and Sakura nodded adamantly as the walked up the narrow stairs to the upper floor.

"He's letting minors in and touching guests..." she scrunched her nose, "honestly, it's ridiculous that he has a job at all!" Naruto was all too happy to agree with her, still embarrassed. When they reached the second landing there was a second door that opened and they were bombarded with a pulsing beat and dim lights that flashed on certain breaks, "I can't see anything; where are they...?" their eyes scanned the venue and Naruto spotted Ino's blonde hair swishing in her excitement.

"There," he pointed and Sakura immediately dragged him towards them. The group was surrounding a hightop and Kiba was already setting out the first round of shots. Naruto swallowed at the notion, still recovering from the previous night.

"Alright, gang!" Kiba plopped the last glass on the table and grinned at them, "Bottoms up!" he cheered and it was met with either more cheers or groans. Kiba seemed to notice that Hinata was eyeing her own precariously, so he picked it up and held it before her, "Come on Hina, I promise I'll take care of you if I need to," he assured her and she nodded hesitantly. Naruto grimaced at his own shot, but picked it up and clinked it on Sakura's anyway.

"To our first year of college, huh?" she smiled at him and his expression grew soft as he gazed at his friend. Sakura really was almost like family, now. He was glad to have her in his life.

"Yeah, to that and all the crazy shit that will happen," he grinned at her and wrapped his elbow with hers. She laughed at the antic but went along with it and they swallowed the liquid before gagging and slamming their cups down. Naruto glared at his former roommate, "What the fuck was in that shit!?"

"Heh, just moonshine - no worries!" Kiba grin was beyond devious.

"Kib-hah!" Sakura tried to reprimand him, but coughed in the middle at the dryness of her throat, "Water...!" she muttered and wandered to the bar to ask for some glasses. Naruto scanned the group. Choji and Shino looked oddly fine, Shikamaru and Ino held similar grimaces, and poor Hinata looked like she was going to be sick.

"Hinata," Naruto started, leaning over the table, "You alright?" he tried and she nodded with a blush.

"Here," Kiba offered her a soda and she grabbed at it and took a gulp, her blush intensifying. Naruto sighed and leaned back, ignoring Kiba as he called for a round two and scuttled to the bar as Sakura was walking back. She handed Naruto a glass and he gladly took it, chugging some of the water. His blue eyes roamed over the crowd and took in the band that was playing in the spotlight. It was something jamming and he found his foot tapping to the beat. "Bottoms up!" Kiba shouted once more upon his return and everyone groaned this time.

Naruto was beginning to lose track of time and he was getting hot. The crowd had nearly tripled in the Shinobi and he pulled at his jacket collar. _Ugh, too hot, too hot..._ he unzipped the material and slug his jacket over a seat, wiping at the sweat that collected on his neck.

"Mm, that's quite the number," he felt Ino's finger tracing something tender on his neck and he peered down at her confused for a moment before it connected. _Ah, shit. That was clumsy._ His blue eyes darted to the empty glasses on the table. How many had he had? Three shots? He was definitely a bit beyond tipsy. _Damn moonshine..._ His face was flushed with heat and he didn't know if it was more from the temperature or being caught.

"Heh, yeah," he muttered lamely. He didn't want to talk about it. His eyes traveled to Ino who was looking at him with a daring expression.

"So, who was it?" she smirked and Naruto scowled.

"Stop asking," he told her and placed a hand over the spot protectively. Ino opened her mouth again, but was cut off by Kiba.

"Dude!" he shouted, pointing at Naruto's hand, "You didn't tell me you got action!" the brunette accused and Naruto sighed defeatedly. _Aw, common'!_

"I don't wanna-" Naruto was cut off when he saw a head of flaming red hair, "Gaara!" he called at the male turned to him in his passing. Naruto, excited to change the subject and to see his roommate, rushed over to the other and tugged him into a hug, "Ah, Gaara! You're out!" the red head nodded and his half siblings came up behind him.

"Yes," he smiled lightly at his roommate, then eyed the prominent mark on the blonde's neck with a raised brow, knowing he hadn't seen that earlier, but said nothing on the subject. Despite that, Naruto blushed and laughed awkwardly. _Dammit, Sasuke!_

"Gaara, how are you?" Sakura asked, having been returning from a trip to the bathroom and the two exchanged cordial greetings. Afterwards, Sakura turned to Naruto, also eyed the hickey, but contorted her face as opposed to commenting.

"Hey sparky," Temari smirked at Shikamaru. The lazy genius just nodded his head towards her, then muttered something about wanting a cigarette, "Tch, those things are cancer in a tube - I thought you were supposed to be smart?"

"Everyone has vices," Shikamaru spoke coolly as he meandered past her and she watched his leaving form.

The group eventually formed a conglomerate and it was in another hour that Naruto found himself getting a little dizzy, deciding that he needed to switch to water permanently. But the next words that caught him made his bones shiver.

"Hey, you handsome devil," Naruto slowly, and fearfully, turned towards the voice, clutching the table to keep steady. _Too many people! Too many people that do and don't know too much! Ahh!_ He panicked inwardly. He needed to keep all of these people from talking to each other! Someone was bound to find out something... Luckily, Suigetsu was only with Karin, Sasuke nowhere to be found, and Naruto looked at them both with wide eyes. Karin waved at him with an annoyed expression.

"Hey cuz'," she adjusted her glasses on her nose, "Sorry, I blacked out last night, but there were some stupid pictures on my phone with you and I," Karin explained and looked up at him.

"Hah, eh, yeah, me too, actually!" Naruto pulled at the topic and fished out his phone, swiping to the picture of them making kissy faces and she blushed and cackled at it, "I guess we are related - huh?" he tried and she offered him a smile and a flippant wave. Afterwards, Naruto dared to look at Suigetsu, whose eyes were trained on the dark splotch of Naruto's bane. Sasuke's roommate smirked devilishly, but he visibly restrained himself from saying something, and it made Naruto's brows raise. _Sasuke must've gotten to him..._

"Karin!" Sakura called, yanking the other girl over to the table, "Come meet Ino!"

And thus ensued an awkward round of meetings, everyone being far too crowded around the small high-table. People mostly stayed away from questionable topics, meaning those that pertained Sasuke, but Suigetsu asked a few odd questions like: So who's all slept together? Any torrid affairs? Are you all rich?

By the end of the night, Naruto was walking home with Gaara and Suigetsu, since they were headed to the same place anyway, and he was thankful that he was lucid. Still drunk, but lucid. Nothing like the night prior. Suigetsu was prattling on about how hot Sakura and Ino were, making Naruto feel oddly protective, and Gaara was silently sliding along beside them. By the time they reached their dorm, Naruto wanted to punch Suigetsu and Gaara was placing a calming hand on his arm.

"If you say one more word about how you want to fuck Sakura I'm going to-" and Naruto stopped because his eyes caught on a magnificent sight. Sasuke was, again, taking a late night shower - wasn't it like two in the morning? - and he was caught between the bathroom and the common room, towel slung low and hair dripping on his bare shoulders. Naruto's blue eyes soaked in the sight and his face heated up, but Sasuke just gazed at the strange trio for a moment before apathetically turning away and continuing to his room.

"Christ, keep it in your pants, blondie," Suigetsu muttered sidestepped the other two to grab a glass from the kitchenette. Gaara removed his hand with a sigh and walked to their shared room to change for the night. Naruto sputtered for a moment, but his eyes refused to leave Sasuke's chiseled form until it disappeared. Were those scratch marks? Dear lord... What had Naruto done?

Sasuke came back out and walked past Naruto, who still hadn't moved from the door, and grabbed a tomato from the fridge, clad only in sweats, and just bit into it. Right into the tomato. Just like that. And it broke the spell.

"Ew, bastard, that's disgusting," Naruto commented and shoved him aside to reach into the cabinet for his beloved instant ramen. Sasuke made a grunting noise and scoffed.

"No, that's disgusting," he countered with a dry tone, indicating the package, and Naruto held it to his chest protectively. In his alcohol smothered daze, he couldn't come up with a retort, but he stuck out his tongue and Suigetsu laughed behind the pair, swaying slightly.

"Heh, careful, he might bite it off," he snickered as he pointed at Naruto's slowly receding tongue, the blonde looking mortified and Sasuke looking annoyed.

"Are you drunk?" the raven's question sounded deeply aggravated and Suigetsu nodded heartily with a grin.

"Fuck yeah, I am!" he whooped after his statement and clumsily placed his glass in the sink. He elbowed around the other two and stumbled into his room, slamming the door shut. Sasuke was by the barrier hastily and slammed his fist on the door.

"Suigetsu," his voice was deadly, "I don't have my key card-"

"Sleep with your boyfriend!" Suigetsu hollered from the other side and Sasuke bristled. A loud chortle came from inside the room, then a thump and Sasuke's fist slid down as he cursed under his breath.

"He passed out," Sasuke spoke aloud, rubbing his palm down his face, "what a dumbass... I'll ruin him," Naruto shivered at the dark energy that Sasuke was emitting and plopped his noodles into water before placing it in the microwave.

"Welp! That sucks!" Naruto chimed and Sasuke turned narrowed eyes to the blonde.

"Sleep on the couch - I'm taking your bed," Sasuke informed him and began to traipse towards the opposite room before Naruto stomped over and blocked his path, holding his palm out defensively.

"Hey, no; fuck no!" he narrowed his blue eyes at the other while Sasuke gazed at him impassively, "You have the shit roomie, you sleep on the couch!"

"You stole my bed last night," Sasuke said flatly and the words made Naruto's face heat. The blonde looked away in embarrassment and glared at the couch.

"Why'd you have to bring that up...?" his grumble met silence before Sasuke's finger pushed harshly on the tender spot of Naruto's neck, making him squeak and jump back.

"Nice hickey," Sasuke's deep voice was smug and Naruto sputtered at him before the flush on his cheeks turned angry and he made a swing at Sasuke's face, which the raven aptly avoided.

"Shut up!" Naruto howled and smacked a hand over the mark. The microwave sounded off in the background, but the two stared at each other. Naruto huffed and turned to his dorm, ready to claim his own space before retrieving his ramen, but as he dug through his pockets he began to panic. He didn't have his card. His card was in his jacket. His jacket had been with Gaara. Gaara was probably passed out by then, "Fuu~uck!" he whined loudly and Sasuke scoffed behind him.

"Idiot."

"Don't call me idiot, idiot!" Naruto seethed at the other as he spun on a heel, "You did the same thing!" Sasuke shrugged and walked to the couch, settling himself in, "Hey you can't just take the couch!" Naruto yelled and Sasuke ignored him, laying an arm over his eyes.

"Turn the light out," Sasuke muttered and Naruto grumbled obscenities before stomping to the wall and flipping the switch, leaving them in darkness.

"Move over," Naruto complained as he shoved the raven and Sasuke made a deep noise of disapproval, yet Naruto ignored it and finagled his way on the small piece of furniture, leaving them in an awkward tangle. Sasuke growled but Naruto smacked a hand over his mouth, "Shut up, Sasuke. I'm too tired," he commented, completely forgetting about his ramen in the microwave. Sasuke shoved one more elbow into Naruto's gut for good measure, then settled in knowing that he would just push the blonde idiot off once he fell asleep, "G'night..." Naruto murmured sleepily, then the room met silence.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! R &R! Till next time~!_


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